JulieW

I was just going to post the same message! Great minds.... Hope someone can fill us in

The trouble is, after they've been to WL for the final audition and met the others, they want it even more.

Thinking of you during the wait. In not sure I couldn't copied with an email - at least once the post had been you knew you had to "forget" about it for another day (although by postman would've probably preferred it - I think he thought I was a bit manic that week 10 years ago lol)

As balletqs said, all the final auditions are held on the same day for the boys, and the same for the year 8 to 10/11 entry. The next day is final auditions is for the year 7 girls entry.

I echo all of the above. I knew nothing about dance before my children started to get relatively "serious" about it, and we didn't have the wealth of knowledge at our fingertips via the internet then either! As others have said, I watched class as often as possible, chaperoned JA classes, read books, watched live performances - and found this forum (even if there were far fewer of us around back then!). Don't expect to learn it all at once - it's a gradual process.

We have strayed away from the original conversation into discussion to such an extent now, and into discussion about body types, and so to avoid more I am going to lock the thread. I really don't feel that Tilly was offensive to anyone, just giving her point of view on her own child, and no-one was identifying anyone else's child, but it's probably best to move on now.

Here the link to the qualifying marks - it depends on age these days. http://www.all-england-dance.org.uk/competition

I'm confused too. The finals have a great mix of dancers from schools all round the country.

As a moderator I don't believe there is a problem with what was said - it was the poster's opinion and not talking about any particular students. Please move on. This discussion had been interesting regarding first impressions. We felt a bit the same (6 years ago) about Central and ENBS (although I liked both the schools after going to finals/open days) but I agree that it's important for schools to think about how their reception staff deal with visitors. They are the front line dealing with potential customers after all.

Here some news about one boy on the New Adventures site http://new-adventures.net/lord-of-the-flies/news/from-lord-of-the-flies-to-the-royal-ballet-school

Vbee - definitely ring the surgeon's secretary for advice. And wishing you a good recovery. Porthesia - I'm so sorry to hear about what's happened. Having had a "near miss" with my son and a for injury I have some idea of what you're going through but fortunately his story turned out OK in the end. If you need a chat, virtual or on the phone, phase do get in touch. BillyElliott - sorry to hear about your son's injury - I wish him a good recovery too. Make sure he follows all his instructions and sees the physio - I'm sure the school will help you out with that!

I have done flowers for my son in the past and was delighted that they were actually given to him (and the couple of friends I bought them for) on stage in the curtain call as I get a bit "annoyed" that it's usually the ladies who get them not the men (I'm talking professional companies now). When he was younger I got him a small Nutcracker toy when he was in that and a picture for his room for another but I really can't remember what else. Usually just a nice good luck card I think ;-)

And what about other ideas for boys? (The sweet tree would be good)

No Vonrothbart - I don't think drdance meant all children with potential but if they saw someone they absolutely loved and don't want to risk them going off to another school.....

They have been known to offer day places in years where there is no boarding room. And I'm glad to hear the new management are saying they won't assess out of year 7, I hope they mean it (because they used to say that before but they did sometimes still do it)

Same! And said that on there earlier. Grrr

All very good points. I have to remind myself sometimes that I live in a very "white" part of the country.

Not saying our shouldn't Nelly, just making an observation

Gosh, has that come round already. Have a wonderful day - I have such a clear memory of our finals day there despite it being about 10 years ago! I then used to help on the pta table just so I could be there to share other people's ;-) You've got a lovely day for it too - WL and Richmond Park in the sunshine is lovely. Obviously I wish you all luck but savour the day no matter what the outcome -remember that sadly more people will get a no than a yes.

It does seem a bit niche doesn't it justanotherdancemum

Balletqueen -they are auditioned at the same time but they know exactly who's auditioning for which year and what spaces are available. There aren't many of them by this point.

There's another thread along these lines here: http://www.balletcoforum.com/index.php?/topic/8307-what-does-it-mean-to-be-successful-in-dance/?fromsearch=1 I'm going to close this thread and we can continue the discussion there. Please would one of the other moderators merge these comments in (my phone's not that clever). Thanks

It was great to see so many groups as it's a bit frustrating to have only one or two in a section, but I'm still not sure I like the different genres being judged against eachother. It can be done well if as adjudicator "just" chooses her favourite three for placings and then qualifies others too, but I really felt that there were groups who should definitely have been given qualifying marks but seemingly weren't. But there you go, that's festivals. Also, as an aside, adjudicators and choreographers seem to have varying ideas of what constitutes "contemporary" dance - I suppose that's the nature of the genre but there are guidelines on the AED website.

Anyone at Tilehurst this afternoon\evening? My dancers have all left home now but a friend and I are going to watch and support old dance school.

Could be completely random!