2dancersmum

The main 4 schools that offer funded (or some funding) for ballet training for yr 7 entry (boarding schools) are RBS, Elmhurst, The Hammond and Tring. Or there are plenty of associate schemes out there if you are looking at keeping at a normal academic school and ballet training closer to home. My advice would be not to try and second guess what schools are looking for and not read anything in to a yes one year and a no the next. You just have no way of knowing how many places are available versus how many applied. As daughterdance suggested - audition anywhere you feel comfortable and see how she gets on. Treat it as a nice day out , an extra ballet class and a bonus if you get offered finals or a place afterwards. The journey to being a professional dancer is a long one with plenty of bumps, twists and turns along the way so just enjoy the journey for as long as your DD enjoys her ballet. FYI neither of my DDs got accepted as associates (did not apply to vocational school)- one went to vocational school at 16 and has danced professionally ever since (not a ballet company though she still has performed ballet on pointe in most of her contracts) and the other decided to wait til she was 18 and then decided on university instead with ballet as a hobby.

I would echo glowlight's suggestion. Also perhaps somewhere like Ballet Cymru for their 1 year course But in London, no first hand experience of these (well via my DD) but some places to check out that I know her friends (professional performers) have attended between contracts - Pineapple, Danceworks, Dance Attic, Base Studios and The Place. I could not tell you which were for ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap or musical theatre though

BBQs I find better as the smell tends to be short lived and during the day time - but a strong smell of smoke at 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 pm and later is horrific. Last night it was not smoke that woke me but voices with an extremely loud c0nversation between two men that went on from 2 to 3 am - should be said , I live on the edge of a village and it was not near neighbours or any of the eldery who live inbetween us and the main part of the village. From what they said I think they were in a hot tub - I think half the village must know their opinions on bald men now!

I'm going to throw in inconsiderate people who light bonfires when its this hot - horrible smell when you open the windows but you need them open evenings and early mornings to get some cooler air in

wasps may be a gardener's friend but I agree with Taxi - not much fun in the loft! Swarms are a sight to behold though - house a few doors away had these visitors today

Outdoor venues - I see today that Let's All Dance are doing a number of open air performances in London parks in August of 'Alice in Wonderland'. Its quite a small ballet company that aims to bring/introduce ballet to family audiences, mentions ages 2-14 on their website. Probably of no interest to many on this site, especially this thread but its nice to see live ballet in any form returning to in-person audiences. www.let's-all-dance.co.uk

You can definitely start at one of the colleges that offer DADA funding at age 15 if you have completed your compulsory education in Scotland as one of DDs house mates (living with a landlady) was only 15 when she started and a couple of months off her 16th birthday still. Will post when I have an answer re the eligibilty for a DADA as a 15 year old - DD cannot remember.

To be honest , your session in Scotland in August looks like a long shot. Currently in Scotland residents are only supposed to travel within a 5 miles radius of their home and travel to Scotland is not allowed wihout good reason. Even at the next stage when more travel is going to be allowed, the Scottish government is asking that people try and stay local and avoid non essential journeys to other areas. And still no certainty on when restrictions on hotels, restaurants. gyms etc will be (partially) lifted in Scotland and basically anything could be happening (virus and lockdown-wize) between Lincolnshire and the school in Scotland to make your journey more ardous. I'd agree with LinMM on the risk of long distance travelling anywhere and on not going unless you can arrange it last minute as I think it flexibility in terms of decisions is required

In my region most of the theatres are fairly small and do not have 'live' events every night of the week/month/year. They have already done a mix of live events, screenings of live NT and ballet productions and cinema films for a number of years. Its not a model that would work for all theatres but may be the way forward for some.

Male pheasants can be rather aggressive and quite a nuisance. There used to be one who seemed to think he owned our road - he attacked the post van and postman daily and indeed any red vehicle or person wearing red. I believe he got run over eventually. Wildlife causing havoc at the moment in the village - a mink - spotted and filmed by the river and going after chickens and ducklings. we also seem to have a red kite visiting on a daily basis - such a beautiful bird - I thought I must have been mistaken initially when I saw it but there have been several reports now on our village pages.

Our village school has been open throughout for children of key workers - though actually there have only between 3 and 8 children attending according to my neighbours (2 of the children are theirs) but obviously not with a full staff. When the school opened to reception and year 1, the key worker children were kept in their own bubble and no mixing between year groups or with the key worker group. My neighbours youngest is reception class but had to stay in the key worker bubble. That was when school first opened - I know from this week they have had a lot more children returning and more year groups. Initially less than half of reception and year 1 went back.

That's rather harsh to say the least - calling people lazy and saying they can't be bothered to go to the supermarket themselves - there are thousands of elderly people and people with underlying health conditions out there who are currently unable to go to supermarkets in person. Perhaps be thankful that you are able to get out and that you have your health

My DD is currently at university (well at home doing online lectures/seminars etc). She has been in university flats this year and they are not charging for the summer terms accommodation provided she is fully moved out within a week of the lockdown ending. Still has belongings in her flat as she left in a hurry to be at home for the lockdown. She is renting a house with friends next year and has actually already signed the contract (in February) - no deposit to pay other than the standard one which is part of the Tennancy Deposit scheme and as such is returnable at the end of the tenancy minus costs of breakages etc. I am wondering if your non-returnable deposit is actually one from the estate agents ? We have never actually gone through an estate agency for any of my DCs - my son had 4 years in private rentals at uni and now rents in London - always done direct with a landlord. Given your sons age and circumstances I would probably suggest going for a private house share but I would widen your net in searching as I really have never known it go though an estate agent and I think that is bumping your costs up

No flour yet to be seen in my area either - yet here we have the opposite with broccoli and cauliflower to comments above. No problem finding cauliflower but no broccoli to be found and carrots in pretty short supply too. Lots of adverts for people to work in the fields though to pick fruit and veg - a lot of it previously done by immigrants and people from out of the area as accommodation was provided with the work - now it can only be locals as not allowed to open the accommodation.

Going to add in car leasing companies. DH's car was on a 3 year lease and due to be collected by the company on 27th March and a new car delivered. He was told around 22nd that the exchange of car would not take place. Between the 23rd March and 7th April he heard nothing, no replies to his emails and no answers to phone calls. 7th April and they announced he had to keep the old car and would be paying an increase of almost 25% per month to do so plus surplus mileage penalty. DH works as NHS support at a hospital (engineer to look after the hospitals themselves and get ordinary wards converted to high dependency wards with oxygen supplies) so he needs transport and is about to start doing 7 day weeks. It is totally wrong that a car leasing company benefits and DH is punished financially for them not being able to swap cars over on the allotted day. Incidentally what they are proposing charging him is more than the agreement on the new car too.

My DD made exactly the same decision as yours and has never regretted it yet I had similar comments re dancing on cruise ships in the first year or so after graduation. Bottom line - if your daughter is happy and earning her own money doing something she loves then that is all that matters. . I would also suspect that she has not given up ballet. My DD has worked on different lines to Mumofballetmaddaughters but she too has still had classical numbers and danced on pointe on each contract so far - ignore the other mother - like Anna I think she may be a tad envious of your DD's success. I wish your DD continued success and happiness with her dancing.

All the best to you , your DD for her upcoming graduate showcase and future career and not forgetting the rest of your family. I hope, like me, you do pop back onto the forum from time to time.

I agree wholeheartedly with Anna on this. Disagreeing with ballet teachers (or their organisations) does not make the teachers wrong, unprepared or unprofessional and it is very disrespectful to suggest that it does. At the end of the day here we are talking about a difference in views between an enthusiastic dancer who has never danced professionally and only took up ballet in recent years and professional teachers and organisations that have many years of experience and training. This is not meant to be insulting to Michelle either or her standard of dance but it is just unrealistic to assume that any large organisation of any kind would approve an unqualified person going in to represent them. I dont think stopping Michelle coaching the silver swans was done personally but as said above the teacher cannot be in breach of the terms and conditions of her own school's position. I also find the tone towards Anna rather unpleasant - it comes accross as rather mocking with comments like:"I wonder what Anne C would make of that so far, would she disallow it". Anna simply explained the silver swan's licensing/entry and training requirements. It was not personal

DD1 is a professional dancer (vocational school at 16+) but DD2 took the university route. She was quite adamant that she wanted to continue to dance at university and although she chose the universities to apply to by course , on each open day she made sure she found out about dance opportunities. She actually gets more hours of dance and more variety than she did before she went to university and this year is dancing 5 evenings a week - ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap and street. Dance will remain a serious hobby for her though I do know that one of DD1s friends did a biology degree and joined the 'dance club' and after graduation it was the dance route she continued to follow - though unsure if she danced professionally or trained to teach dance. So yes, I echo Kate's advice - if she wishes to follow an academic path with dance as a serious hobby at university, do look a student union pages and 'The student room' 14 is a tricky age and your DD could change her mind several times yet. I know DD1 was still set on classical ballet at that age and only widened it to 'dance' aged 18 and DD2 wanted to follow in her sisters footsteps when she was 14, had decided at 15 she would wait til she was 18 and by 17 had decided to go down the academic route instead.

IDTA do give a numerical mark too but from memory the mark boundaries are quite different from RAD. Distinction is 85% and over. Pretty sure it was 60% to pass but unsure where the boundary lies between pass and merit - about 74% at a guess but really cannot remember. I'm not sure my DDs ever did a medal test but I thought the fail/pass/commended/highly commended/honours were the applicable results for the graded exams they did. Again , honours was over 85% and I think highly commended was 75-84% but I am going back quite a few years - about 4 or 5 years since DD2 took an IDTA exam

Just to add in another consideration when your DD is thinking about the future and her options. Moving away from classical ballet does not necessarily mean a move to contemporary or musical theatre. The level 6 Trinity diploma comes as a qualification in professional dance or musical theatre. There are an awful lot of professional performers out there who are either paid solely to dance or to dance and sometimes sing as a backing singer to a lead vocalist in a number. My DD's qualification is in dance - that is classical ballet, contemporary, modern, commercial and tap. She had very few hours training in acting and singing whereas MT courses are pretty much 1/3 acting 1/3 dance 1/3 singing . And the longest time she has been between contracts so far is 5-6 weeks since graduating in 2015.

My DD was on the dance course but had friends doing musical theatre. The advice to a musical theatre student to avoid ALW songs at an audition as far as I am aware is nothing to do with the difficulty levels or anything like that but more to do with their 'over' popularity. There is a huge world of musical theatre out there and they like students to show a bit of individuality and choose a song that shows off their voice/ range/characterisation -, to show that they enjoy MT and not just the really well know musicals - a bit like a ballet student saying they love ballet but only being able to name Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty as examples. As for being real and understanding the market their graduates are competing in - I think you will find that they are. Most MT auditions - for whatever show - theatre, west end, cruise ship - ask the singers the choose individual songs to show their range - and not songs from the show itself. For example, audition requirements for singers attending the Cats auditions for Royal Caribbean productions. "Please prepare your best 16-32 bars (preferably pop/rock) that shows range and personality. Have repertoire book available upon request. All sheet music should be in proper key; accompanist will be provided. In addition, please prepare two songs from the RCP repertoire below, and download the sheet music. "

Of course they should be allowed to take the exams. Exams are open to everybody, providing they meet any entry requirements (eg age) and everybody has to pay to enter. The dance studio is obviously happy to allow students to attend the stage school as well as the studio. Students should be entered for an exam when they are ready and not when they have attended a compulsory number of classes - exams depending on attendance would be unfair on all students, not just those going to stage school. And if they are getting higher marks then they were clearly ready for the exam at that time. Comparing one student with another is really a pointless exercise - especially at such a young age. All dancers are on an individual journey - they develop at different times and each will have their own strengths and weaknesses. Certainly at such a young age dance should be about enjoyment and the exams are just a sort of bonus as they get a certificate and a sense of achievement.

I actually get the parental comments both ways as my DDs took different paths. DD1 went to vocational school at 16 and is now a professional dancer on a cruiseship. DD2 could have auditioned at 16 or 18 but ultimately decided she decided on a university degree (academic and not remotely related to dance) and dance has become a hobby , albeit a 5 evenings a week one. I often find its the same people that were dismissive of DD1's choices that now eiher criticise DD2's choices or express surprise/disbelief that she hasn't followed in her sister's footsteps. My usual reply is that all of my children are doing what they what to do and what makes them happy, living their own lives. I've long since come to the conclusion that some people will always criticize - whether its through a lack of understanding, their own insecurities or even jealousy. The worst comments I get when I am unfortunate enough to bump into said person are from a woman with 3 boys - 2 in the army and one who went to work in a shop after A levels. Her nasty comments are always directed at my daughters and not my son.

It used to be a set number of awards per school (varying) but as Pictures says the school is now allocated a pot of money rather than a number of awards. The other factor that affects how many students get a DADA in any given year is down to the fact that the amount of DADA allocated depends on parental income. Students are assessed on talent not finances but a year where say the top 10 all need full DADA and all accept their places, the school might then only be able to award DADAs to those 10 students. In a year group when the top 10 only get a small amount each from the schools DADA allocation of money that would mean money still in the pot to offer to student number 11, perhaps 12 too and so on. Note - I have picked the number 10 at random and not as an indication that I know how many students would get one.