Evie

My DD had glandular fever when she was 16, her liver was affected and she was admitted to hospital for a week. However, 2 weeks later she declared herself fit and went back to dancing. She bounced back very quickly, she was one of the lucky ones.

Thank you all for your kind words and understanding. The only people I've ever opened up to about my feelings are you!! I'm very good at hiding behind my stiff upper lip

I've hated every minute of every day that my son has been away, he's now in year 11. I don't feel any excitement at all about him becoming a dancer. I feel very disconnected from it all now. It might be worth it for him, I hope it is, but I can never get those years back. He's happy, I'm not, but I guess it's about what he wants now we're this far down the road.

My ds started in year 4, a very young 8 year old. His JA teacher spent the first 6 months informing me that he kept leaning on the barre!! He loved the classes, it gave him the passion for ballet, he's now been at vocational school 3 years. Enjoy the journey everyone, it's making me feel nostalgic!!

My disabled daughter did her RAD examinations with special conditions when she was very young in grade 1. She was given a low Mark, whereas her sister had a high Mark. I think she felt like a disabled ballet dancer, even though she aS still relatively young and gave up. However, we went on to ballroom for a while which she absolutely loved and even did the odd competition.

The correct spelling is Aimee Marles, not Miles.

Well in reality, if I were a dancer (instead of a dancing mum!), I would only be suitable for a big ballet production! Seeing, as I';m in heaven (and this is impossible for me, I'm an atheist!) and a very slim young ballerina, anything where I got to dance with Sergei Polunin would be just perfect!

My ds went away to vocational school 2 years ago at the age of 11. We didn't do it, even though I have journalist friends on our local paper who wanted us to. I just thanked his teachers and schools for supporting him on my fb page and wrote a couple of thank you notes to them also. We did buy some lovely bouquets of flowers for 2 or 3 of his favourite teachers and have photographs taken with them as keepsakes. Everybody that we care about and that it meant something to were told so they could congratulate him.

My friends daughter and her friend were both offered the 'dance connections' too. They are both trained dancers, but really wanted anything to do with acting, as this is what they would ultimately like to train for! Even though they live in the South West, I doubt that either of them will accept their places either.

I think some teachers are high achievers and see something like dancing as a hobby. My eldest son went to grammar school, where he performed the lead role in, The Rocky Horror Show, he looked rather fetching in stiletto's and fishnets complete with pink feather boa. It was suggested by his English teacher that he apply for drama school, but that was never an option for him. In his eyes, no one that went to his grammar school would waste his education studying for a degree in Drama!! Move forward a few years and his degree is in English Literature and he is to become a primary school teacher. His younger dancing brother away at 11 at vocational school, missed the academic genes and was given the dyslexic ones, never I fear to achieve a degree in English Literature, needs to study much harder and stop messing about with dancing according to his brother!!!! So if this train of thought can happen between siblings, how many other high acheivers out there feel like this about dancing, drama etc..................

Katymac. as the mother of six children, 2 of them dc, I can tell you from my experience that one size does not fit all! I knew when one of my children was 5years old that he would probably pass the 11+ and go to grammar school and university, he did! Equally I knew at 4 years old that one of my dc was going to be severely dyslexic and definitely would not pass his 11+ and go down the academic route. He eventually learned to read at 8years old and went to vocational school. My dd refused to audition at 16 like all her friends did, because I'm not good enough, she said and at 4ft 9ins, she was right. However it did not stop her performing and at 18 she went of to Paris to work at Disney. The following year she went to work in Mexico and now at 21, she is still performing and dancing. Encourage your dd, look for her strengths, you know her best after all. What's right for one child is not necessarily right for another and this is why I had 5 children at 5 different schools at one time, it was the right thing for them at that time. Good luck to you and your dd.

My ds currently training as a ballet dancer, would I am sure not want to have to lift those ladies! Afterall he's training as a ballet dancer not a weight lifter!! I switched this programme off after 20minutes, it's another reality TV programme and read a book instead!!! My ds home for half term found it quite interesting and expressed an opinion or two and asked when the next programme was on!

It's light entertainment..., X Factor in tights!! Maybe they'll get Linford Christie to do a series about 'fat athletes' next! I'm fat and believe you me, there's no way I'd want to stuff it all into a tu-tu and perform on a stage at my age! But whatever floats your boat, I suppose!

My ds son is now 5" 7 and just turned 13! His father is 5" 8 and his older brother is 6" 0!! I'm 5" 3, so I've no idea what's going on. I scoffed when his vocational school predicted his eventual height will be 6" 4, maybe they are right!!

A couple of years ago at the Elmhurst boys finals day, there were approx 15 and they took 8 into that year.