Dance*is*life

Lovely story! And I'm sure your support over the years made a big contribution to his eventual success.......

I'm just wondering why a four year old is having two lessons a week in the first place?????? How old was she when she started? Two and a half???? And why exactly was this whole thing blown out of all proportion? If a parent can't come to the open class, what's the problem with letting them come another time? If we settle on a particular week for open classes, most parents will usually be able to manage one or other of the classes, If one or two have to be accommodated, is that such a big deal? A valid point that someone made is that there is very little improvement to see at this age anyway and this could have been explained to the father - if he then decided to remove the child from the school, well so be it! When my oldest grandson was about three and a half, he attended a "Circus" course. At the end of the first three months parents were invited to watch. My son and daughter-in-law went, as did my husband and I and his other grandma -oh and his little brother. Anyway, even with all of us rooting for him he refused to do a thing for most of the demonstration! That's what you get with pre-schoolers - they're totally unpredictable........ Seems to me it's a storm in a teacup!

We got a tip from a tutor during a course that I thought was brilliant and I always use it now. Onr of the hardest things to get a child to do is to not over turn their alignment placing. I used to use the image of having their own personal square and then they would stand facing the corner of their own square, but somehow that didn't work well. Anyway this teacher told us to stand at 5 to 12 on the clock or five past twelve and it works! I only have to tell my student that she's standing at 10 to 12 instead of 5 to and she adjusts it!

Way back in the days of yore when I was doing a few select comps, the fees were nothing like what you all seem to have to pay today. My mother was a professional dressmaker, so she made all my costumes, but surprisingly enough (especialy when I think how difficult it is nowadays to get the Mums to sew on elastics and ribbons)pretty much all the mothers made their own daughter's costumes too! They were always lovely as well and in very good taste. Our stage dances were taught in separate lessons, as the daily ballet technique classes were sacrosanct! Personally, I think that performing in front of an audience is just as important as technique classes, because what we are teaching is a performing art. Presentation, musicality and dance quality are an integral part of performing and technique alone is not enough. The RAD exams recognise that and a child who performs can often raise her mark considerably! I think summer schools are a very useful addition to a talented child's training, but having intensive training for a week or two is not going to have a greater effect on improving your dancing daughters ability than would say taking two lessons a week instead of one all year round. As a teacher I really do suggest that instead of spending your hard earned money on holiday extras invest on extra lessons during the year.

You were probably lucky to find an IF level class where the girls were only 5 years younger than you! The average age of our IF class is 12, so not exactly appropriate I'm afraid. I do think your best bet would be to find an adult class. I don't see why the ladies should give you a hard time - they wouldn't in the adult ballet class I attend! And if they do in the beginning, I'm sure when they see you are serious and attend regularly, they will get used to you! Go for it and enjoy yourself!

My goodness - there is a ten year old there???? It sounds truly horrific! I wonder if the parents realise what their little girl must be going through. And why so few on the course? Perhaps most people are aware that it is a disaster? I would definitely complain through official sources. By the way - I just put the name into google and nothing came up - isn't that wierd??????

I'm curious as to why some schools - such as Hammond and even at RAD Headquarters - would have one hour classes? To me a one hour ballet class seems very short, especially for older students. Did your children find the length of class limiting? Or was it enough because they had several classes a day?

Well my son had rather the opposite experience, which he was a bit upset about.. He brought his three children to see our end of year junior performance and he said his little girl sat quietly and beautifully throughout (she's not yet three and this was her first show) but at one point she said in her clear little girl voice That was lovely! and someone turned round and glared at her! Poor little thing - she was only enjoying the show and it was a school performance. I was quite surprised when I heard the story!

I just had a thought about what a wonderful world we live in today! When I first left home to dance in a ballet company in Germany in 1967, I had to go to the post-office and book a 3 minute call in a booth to speak to my parents in England - now my students travel to New York and send me photos and videos and messages instantly on WhatsApp!

They have sent me a couple of photos and videos and seem very excited. She isn't really dancing much - mainly watching, but I think that's sensible, although I can imagine that she must feel so frustrated - today they had their first ever pas de deux lesson! I told her that you can learn a great deal from watching and that she should write down corrections and exercises for future reference.

Well they're in the middle of their first day there in New York, so hopefully it was okay. Apparently the nurse checked her out and gave her the go ahead to start, so I wait to hear how it went. I saw a photo of her and my other student who's also gone, (they're best ballet friends) sitting on the plane with big smiles on their faces, so I think it was the right decision to let her go! Anyway, there's always next year!

Okay - ask her to jump and look at her from the side so you can see what she's doing with her body. If she tenses and throws her body back then that is part of the reason why her teacher thinks she's not jumping high enough. I purposely don't tell my students to think about trying to jump high, because this often results in the aforementioned overuse of the body. What I do tell them is to just think about stretching their feet down to the floor as hard as they can. Surprisingly enough this really helps the height of the jump! I think it's because when you think about the extremities you automatically stretch the legs to their utmost. As people so rightly said, it's all about the plie and the push off from the floor, so if you do that push and really stretch the feet hard you go higher. Tell her to try it out with the game about pushing against the wall on a smooth floor (not carpet). If she pushes off pointing her feet with all her might, she'll move further away from the wall than she would have done normally. The lighter jumps are definitely attained through correct articulation of the feet as you take off and land and again through not straining the body.

Gosh, I always thought the terms modern dance and contemporary dance were interchangeable! Our students go through the school changing modern teachers and thus slowly developing their skills as each teacher raises the technique and quality level. Our senior class learnt a piece from Pina Bausch's Rite of Spring, so presumably very contemporary, but it takes years to build their strength and feeling for it. I would presume that your teacher knows whether or not it would be age and developmentally appropriate for your daughter to start contemporary and possibly it may not be too different from what she has been learning. Why don't you let her try and see if she likes it and see what the contemporary teacher thinks of her? You're not signing a marriage contract!

Really it is and she is the last person to deserve this! She almost never misses class, is super focused and dedicated and has improved so much this year - getting Distinction for her Intermediate exam and has even changed to contact lenses . She is an exceptional student and so reliable. She was really at her peak and now this. OOOOFFFFFF!

soft pointe shoes– pink with ribbons (soft ballet shoes may be worn for the Intermediate Foundation exam only – pink with ribbons) I copy pasted this from the RAD website. In a section above this on the required uniform, it notes that waistband and hairband are optional, but says nothing about the shoe ribbons being optional, so I think you can be fairly sure that ribbons are compulsory. That doesn't mean that a candidate entering without ribbons on her shoes would be marked down for it or refused entry, but it is not optional - it is required.

I don't think that doing the pirouette exercise with the other foot would matter, because all the pirouettes are shown on both sides in the exercise, so the examiner would still see what she needs to. I am surprised that she nearly went in without ribbons on her shoes - her teacher should have told you that some time ago! Split or full soles are optional, but ribbons are compulsary, so good thing you made the effort. Good luck to her! By the way, I tend to go to South Kensington station and take a bus from there to Battersea Bridge Road and walk five minutes from there. If you're running late the taxi ride is not very expensive from South Ken., which is an advantage!

Just wanted to say that the official end of the Grand Allegro in RAD Grade 7 is the "eros" attitude, so it's not just Cecchetti. I learnt both at the RBS and actually found the Cecchetti vocational work harder - the adages were all on one leg Well done all you lovely ladies for taking your dancing so seriously! I think your enthusiasm is inspiring! Our group of adult ballet ladies performed in one of our end of year shows and did really well. Some of their chldren learn with us and they were very impressed with their Mums! I just wanted to add a little anecdote about older ladies who are still dancing long after they should have retired to a comfy armchair - ie myself! I try and do classes twice a week, so that I can still demonstrate when I teach and because I still love it. I find a lot of class rather difficult now and sometimes have to mark, but in the last class a visitor came to watch and of course my pride wouldn't let me do less than the best that I can manage nowadays. I hadn't danced for a week, because of our school performances, but I slowly warmed up and did all the allegro full out, beats, grand jetes and all! It's quite ridiculous at my age that I still feel the need to perform in front of an audience, but there you are!

Well, unfortunately, the x-ray confirmed a very small broken bone on the side of the foot. The orthopedic doctor gave her permission to go, but to be careful. Her parents have decided to send her, because the swelling has gone down and she is able to walk without pain. They have strapped up her foot, but the ortho didn't put the foot in plaster or insist she walk with crutches, so presumably it's not a weight bearing bone. Hopefully, she will be able to do part of the course - she is there for two weeks. The teacher in charge of the group of students travelling together knows about her and will watch that she doesn't overdo it. They will also check her again with their own doctor on site. Her parents think that even if she just does part of the classes she will gain a lot from attending the course and watching classes and listening to corrections etc etc. Let's hope so.........

Thanks everyone! She is having an X-ray today and I am so nervous for her. I will let you know the outcome. She only got a partial scholarship, but her parents decided that this was an opportunity she shouldn't miss and have really spent a lot of money so that she could go. Oh what's the saying - the best laid plans of mice and men are oft gang astray?????

She is supposed to be going to summer school in New York at the weekend and has been looking forward to it ever since she was accepted - even got contact lenses in honour of it. She has improved so much and she works like mad, never missing a class. Yesterday was our senior show and during a stage lighting rehearsal she fell badly out of a grand jete and injured her foot. We iced it and gave her pain killers, but I took her out of the pointe dance of course. However, she insisted on doing all her other dances, with her foot strapped up and in great pain. Today she rested and the swelling has gone down - tomorrow she's doing an x-ray. I just so hope that it will prove to be just a sprain and not a fracture - I can't believe she could have stood on the foot with a fracture however small, but still summer school is so intensive that even a sprain could ruin it for her. Ooof - it's such bad timing and she really does not deserve this set back, poor girl.

I found a couple of films on youtube about turning pointe shoes into demi-pointes and in both the instruction was to soak them overnight, remove absolutely everything and then stuff them with newspaper until they dry out. I have never done this and I am very curious about it. First of all they seemed to have turned them into totally soft ballet slippers - maybe the RAD would find them unacceptable - I mean they looked exactly like soft satin shoes! Second I would be terrifyied of their disintegrating! Has anyone ever used this method?

You can pay to watch summer school classes in most courses and I have done it on several occasions. I have watched at RBS, Central, Yorkshire Seminars and at the RAD and really enjoyed them all. I like to watch my own students in summer classes here at home and I'm always welcomed in, as I'm well known here. And yes I find it invaluable. It's interesting to see who copes well with free classes in another system too - sometimes students unexpectedly shine and others seem to shrink in to themselves out of their home studio. Another thing I enjoy is watching them in their end of year modern and jazz dances. Even those that struggle in their ballet classes are so good in the other genres, they often really surprise me!

It must be very frustrating for them to have such a talented daughter, but to lack the financial resources to develop her talents properly. Is there anything she could do in her local school to work in exchange for another class (be on reception desk, answer phones, help with the little ones?). I personally think that only learning ballet nowadays is a no go. Repertoire has changed so much that you really need a decent training in modern as well as classical. Dancers need to be versatile and all the top schools include contemporary work in their timetables nowadays. When I was at the RBS, we didn't have anything but classical and character, because that was all you needed for the repertoire then. That is really not the case today, so yes I think she should try and replace one ballet class with a modern class. It will also help her to relax and be less stiff in her movements. I had a student who was so classical that she found modern really difficult, even though she had it once a week from about 9. Then she went to the dance stream in the local high school, where she got much more modern training and suddenly her dancing changed - she has far more energy and stage presence and is now a trainee in our national ballet company and surprising all who knew her with the increased dynamic in her dancing.

I am actually a firm believer in all round training with ballet as the main dance technique. So few girls are going to make it into a classical ballet company and there are so many other options around for dancers who are versatile, that personally I see nothing wrong in waiting until 16 to specialise. Anyway, going to the junior school doesn't automatically guarantee you a place in the senior school, and not all children are suited to boarding school life. What is important is to enable your daughter to get a decent enough training, so that she will be at a high enough standard to be accepted for vocational school at 16.

What an interesting thread - haven't been on for a few days so a lot to read and I missed the chance to react along the way, hope I'll remember the points I wanted to make.......... I went to a performing arts school, where dance was the main training, but we also learnt acting pretty seriously . When I was at the RBS we had mime lessons with Julia Farron and it was semi-acting. I wonder if they still learn it? I think it was a hugely important thing in the long run, that I studied acting, because in later life, I had a wonderful second career as a character artist and if I hadn't have known how to act, I couldn't have done that. I also think that in a way being able to act has made me more responsive to music in my dancing. I have to say that in my performing experience, those dancers who were also outstanding actors and actresses elevated the performance to a new plane. When I was still performing with the Israel Ballet, we always had a guest ballerina in Onegin and I know that one in particular (a Russian) was so brilliant as Tatiana that she influenced everyone on stage to respond more deeply in their roles - even the corps. The dancers would watch from the wings as she did the final pas de deux and it would choke us all up every single time. Similarly when I portrayed the Nurse (great tragi/comic role) in Romeo & Juliet, the wonderful character artist who was Lord Capulet actually upset me with his treatment of Juliet! This was a man who was a good friend, a gentle patient man in real life - sadly he passed away a year ago - but in the scene when he forced Juliet to accept Paris as a suitor, he almost made me hate him, poor dear man! That's acting! I saw Lynn Seymour in many dance/acting roles and she was truly amazing in them. I will never forget her in the third act of Anastasia in particular. MacMillan actually choreographed Romeo and Juliet on Lynn Seymour and Chris Gable, but of course they became second cast to Fonteyn and Nureyev, who had the bigger box office pull. I would have loved to have seen Nerina's 32 entrechat six! Much more interesting than fouettes! She was an incredible technician and also, in her own way a dancer/actress - I have a DVD of Fille with her as Lise and she is adorable! To be able to play understated comedy with charm is also an acting achievement. So often nowadays comedy is overblown (ugly sisters etc) and becomes bawdy rather than funny. I was actually surprised to read the comments about ballerinas not being able to perform 32 fouettes. When I was training in the 60s we were expected to do 32 to the right and left and we did them - too terrified not to. Wonder when that stopped being a requisite? Of course nowadays it's gone to the other extreme - if you can't do double fouettes you may as well not bother! I sometimes long for the days when perfection was not a run of the mill thing! Even 9 year olds on youtube are doing fouettes and double pirouettes!