Dance*is*life

Thank you - that sounds a very good age for Vocational exams. Our students tend to be a year behind that, because they only get 3 or 4 ballet classes a week. We are also restricted by only having one exam session a year and after that we work towards the school performance, so exam preparation has to be done in 5 months. Good for your son that he kept at it in spite of everything. Covid has a lot to answer for in terms of ballet training - pretty much all our seniors have given up on pointework because they couldn't do it at home during lockdowns. Sad.....

Well done! You see!!! Now when you take IF next year try not to get stressed out. It's much harder to get Distinction in vocationals than for grades, so just don't worry about it!

Can someone please tell me what age year 8 children are normally? Someone mentioned taking RAD Intermediate in Year 8. I'm curious how old they were. Our students tend to be 13/14 their Intermediate exam year. When I was at RBS upper school many decades ago, RAD Majors (Vocational) exams were elective. Intermediate (now Advanced 1) was the norm for being accepted and we had once a week classes for RAD Advanced (2). A male student of mine had two years at Elmhurst upper school and took his Advanced 2 there. The weird thing was that he had to travel down to London HQ to take the exam, but he was still on his own - no other boys ! I'm not sure if either school offers RAD exam classes any more - it's rare to see a UK student in the Fonteyn (Genee) competition. I have seen the odd candidate from Central in it.

Did she work with a tablet rather than paper forms? Perhaps that's why? If so that's good news for us too! It took a couple of months last year!

Just a nudge to remind you that there are some excellent female teachers around, who manage to give their lone male students a push in the right direction. I actually have had great success with the odd male student that comes my way, by diligently working with them on the RAD male syllabi. Of course from an older age working in a boys class with a male teacher is the ideal solution, but I know of some inspiring female teachers, who by coaching the RAD male syllabi, have brought their boys up to Advanced standard. I suppose it's luck really to fall into the right hands...... By the way I knew a young man in his 20s, who had only ever done folk dancing. He turned to ballet and after two years training got into the local ballet company. He became a soloist and did very well.

This is exactly why I tell my students that what happens in the actual exam is less important than the work they put in preparing for it. Anything can go wrong in an exam and it's highly likely that under stress you won't do your best, but I can assure you that all the effort you've put in will show its true worth long after the exam certificate has been stuffed away in a drawer! You will have strengthened and improved your technique - you will have developed your dance quality and musicality and overall you will have become a better dancer. How do I know that? Because I see it happen every year with my own students. Of course every student hopes to get Distinction, but whether or not you do, you will still have gained so much as a dancer. So forget about it and get on with working towards the next level!!!

Personally I think every child is different and will therefore cope differently from others. I didn't want to board at WL at 11 and my mother didn't want me travelling to Richmond every day. I went instead to a performing arts day school and adored it - I am still in touch with and friends with my class mates from there (60 years later). I was accepted to the RBS Upper School and thus fulfilled my dream of learning there, even got a full scholarship from the LCC for it. Although I didn't get into the company, the excellent training I received stood me in good stead for my future as a dancer, character artist and teacher. I really don't regret the route we chose or the way things turned out, but I know that I would have been desperately disappointed had I not been accepted to RBS at 16. So I think even if there are setbacks and problems along the way, and there doubtless will be, I would let them follow their dreams. If they're unhappy and suffering and want to leave, or they're let go after a couple of years, at least you gave them the opportunity........

Does The Place still have a contemporary based SS?

I'm afraid that there is no guarantee of becoming a professional dancer, however talented you are! I belive that G-d often moves in mysterious ways, but that things work out the way they're meant to. It must be very hard for you having to work on top of school, so naturally you're frustrated when you don't feel you're getting anywhere in spite of all your efforts, so the question remains - how much do you love dancing? If you feel that you want to dance no matter what, then you should continue, but you must understand that the chances are slim for everyone and often we have to find alternative paths in order to fulfill our dreams. In my humble opinion, you need to take a deep breath and stop agonising. Ballet is beautiful , but demanding and sometimes even cruel! If you don't enjoy it, it's not worth suffering for it! I started in ballet at age 3 1/2 and am still involved with it many decades later. As my pseudonym says for me dance is life. I went through several different performing and dancing careers, loving every minute and have been teaching for about 40 years now. I still love ballet passionately! I never became the top ballerina I dreamt about, but because of a career change I met my husband and we are coming up to 50 years together! He understands how important and fulfilling my teaching is for me and so I carry on. As I wrote before - ask yourself how much you love dancing and if you really enjoy it and get pleasure from it? Remember that no-one can guarantee you anything and with that in mind - is it important enough for you to continue? I could never imagine my life without ballet - can you???

In our school we have added choreographic workshops, where the teachers build new dances for various performances or occasions. We always had a more advanced neo classical style group. Now we have a contemporary style younger group. They so enjoy learning the dances and appearing before an audience. I tend to do my dances only for the end of the year show, but I agree that because dance is a performing art students should learn to perform!

Possibly....?

You have to have passed Advanced 2 with Distinction to be eligible for Solo Seal. Candidates perform three variations before 2 judges (one RAD and one external) and an audience. It is either awarded or not. It's the highest level.

Totally agree and yes I loved the Painted Garden too. Wintle's Wonders is such a good name - it conjures up that era of kids in stage schools dancing as a troupe in panto! I think they decided that Americans wouldn't understand the references, so made them the Shoe series. There's an hysterically funny interview with Michael MacIntyre when he explains the differences between American and English terminology. Apologies to any Americans on here, but it is very gentle humour at their expense!

Yes Curtain Up was really good, but I also liked White Boots (about skating) more than Ballet Shoes 🤭 However my favourite was Wintle's Wonders, which is probably called something Shoes nowadays if you can still get a copy. It's about a pair of orphaned sisters, who go to live with their aunt who runs a stage school. I actually reread it not too long ago and still loved it! Noel Streatfeild really brings her characters to life. Mao's Last Dancer is fantastic and so is the film they made of the book.

I have been teaching for 35 years in a large-ish RAD school - not in UK - we teach several dance genres and I'm one of the senior ballet teachers. We have had quite a few students get accepted for modern dance companies, a few even joined flamenco troupes. Yet in all those years I've only had about six accepted to the ballet company. So many of our students have really strong classical technique, but just don't have the right physical attributes for classical. I know it's the same elsewhere. Ballet is my great love, but it's a cruel and frustrating profession..........

This is why I tell my students that the process of learning and working towards an exam is what's important - because you never know what will happen in the exam! Nerves can easily get the better of us 🥴 Of course we all want great marks, but even if we don't in the end, it doesn't really matter, because what counts is how much we've improved, advanced and strengthened whilst working towards the exam. So try not to get pressurised and think of the exam as a performance and enjoy it!

I think they're too wide rather than too long, but he's now pulled the drawstrings tighter and seems to cope with them. As he hates wearing shoes - prefers to dance in socks - I am happy that he agrees to wear any shoes! I gave him an ultimatum that he had to wear shoes with his exam coming up in March, so whilst I really hate all that excess material, perhaps that's why he actually finds them comfy!

That's really good that you're in a group of 4, as you won't have ro do the exercises alone - except for the Grand Allegro and the dance study. Grade 7 is really lovely. Don't just think about technique, but also about the romantic style and quality. I always tell my students to look on it as a performance and not an exam! Try and think of that when you feel pressurised! Good luck to you all -I am so impressed by your determination and courage! Bravo!

Definitely agree with the above. Does your school have any times when their studios are not being used? Perhaps you could practise there?

Thanks everyone -they're white so can't really fade! Perhaps I'll tell his Mum to dry them partially for about ten minutes in the tumble dryer and then let them dry naturally -that might do the trick! I have no idea why the fitter thought they were okay! They are a C width and his feet probably need a B - there's a lot of spare material at the sides, so hopefully a slight shrinkage will help!

How do you dry them? In a dryer or just naturally?

I have a boy taking Intermediate this year. His Mum bought him new shoes and unfortunately he wore them before I noticed how big they are on him🙁 . Does anyone have any experience in washing canvas shoes (Bloch split soles) in order to shrink them a bit? I don't want to ruin them for him! Thanks in advance!

I don't like children dancing roles like this either, but this was definitely a school performance (the court ladies are very excited little girls) and looking more closely, I think the prince is more likely a teenage student than an adult man. My 14 year old grandson is taller than his Dad, who is not a shortie by any means. Still there is a look of immaturity about him which belies his height!

If you look at both Baryshnikov and Nureyev their technique definitely "neatened" and changed somewhat because of their exposure to the British style - I can't really say if they brought that to the companies they moved on to but it is a possibility. Interestingly the RAD style was created from a mixture of styles through Adeline Genee from Denmark, Tamara Karsavina from Russia, Lucia Cormani, Italy and Espinosa and Bedells of England. I think each contributed to the RAD's hybrid style, which too has changed considerablyl over the years. The RAD is not the only training method in the UK of course, but one of many. I was trained in Russian style, with a bit of RAD thrown in and at RBS we learned Cecchetti too. Ninette de Valois' training methods were yet another track. Nowadays even though all companies seem to demand the same level of technique, very very different from when I was training in the 50s and 60s, there are still marked differences in styles between the various companies.

Don't forget that Nureyev danced for many years with RBS. Whilst he influenced many changes there to the training (even we girls had to do the long loping steps à la Nureyev into grand jeté en tournant instead of a coupé chassé ) his technique was equally influenced by the British style.