taxi4ballet

Nitpicker. 🤣 You know what I mean.

I'd be very surprised if there is any school in the UK with a sufficient supply of 9-year-olds all talented enough (and sufficiently advanced both physically and technically) for a whole class to be going on pointe all together at that age. Very surprised indeed. And not a little concerned.

Several channels, 24 hours a day for 365 days a year, and that's all they can come up with?

The whole point of the graded syllabi (from whichever examining body) is that they are designed for, and specifically aimed at, the recreational dancer. The overwhelming majority - probably 95% - of children who start taking ballet classes are doing it as an activity for fun and nothing more, which is as it should be. Very few of them will have the facility, ability or potential to even consider dance as a career. They do it for the enjoyment, the challenge, and they and their parents, who pay the bills at the end of the day, will get satisfaction from passing graded exams and being awarded a certificate or a medal, even at the most junior level. There are plenty of opportunities for the most talented youngsters to access additional training over and above syllabus work, whether it be associate classes, private lessons, or for the chosen few, vocational school. But for the vast majority, that's not going to happen.

Happy Birthday to the forum, and huge thanks to the moderators, without whom we would be bereft. 🙂 Ten years?! Where in the wide world has that time gone? We've gone from a family with a budding dancer, through years of training, vocational school and out the other side,, and Balletco and all who sail in her were with us every step of the way. For us, things didn't quite end up the way we expected, and at times the forum has been a lifeline for us. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and hoping that 2022 sees us emerging from the pandemic and turns the corner for us all, wherever in the world we are. xx

The only thing I'd say is that when you are doing a vocational grade it is more physically demanding, so you really need to up your hours dancing to improve things such as your strength and overall stamina. Doing a grade class alongside the vocational work will give you extra training hours. You could always do both classes and just aim to do one of the exams though. Both RAD grade 7 and intermediate are awarded UCAS points.

Well yes. Kind of. Most young students in full-time vocational training will be all too aware of good and bad teaching methods, unfairness, bullying, favouritism etc. But none of them are going to stick their head above the parapet and speak up, either about their own issues or in defence of another student. They are also very wary of having their parents speak to the school. They have too much to lose.

I second other suggestions that a specialist dance physio would be your best bet. Either that or sports physios used to dealing with adolescent elite athletes and/or a pilates teacher used to working with dancers. There are a few around.

This was at upper school. My dd suffered an injury during training and it wasn't taken seriously enough. It was misdiagnosed by the physios, and the teaching staff thought she wasn't trying hard enough to recover and regain strength. I suspect that they thought she was malingering. She had to sit out of months of full training. She got no pastoral care or support whatsoever. There was also a separate issue which we had asked that all the staff be made aware of, so they would be able to accommodate her needs. We her parents, and dd all thought that the teachers had been informed, so they could support her. They hadn't. Nobody joined the dots. DD was terrified of being assessed out so didn't (literally couldn't) make a fuss. None of the teachers took her to one side and talked to her about it, or came up with a plan of action. None of her teachers went to the physios and said 'It's been five months and she still can't dance properly, we need to get this sorted out'. It was only when they told her that she needed to think about leaving and finishing her training elsewhere that we demanded that she be referred for a full medical assessment. Only then did the seriousness of the injury was discovered. By which time it was far, far too late. She couldn't stand it any more. And if you work at a vocational school and this sounds vaguely familiar, yes it is your school I'm talking about, and the way you let a 17-year-old suffer was a disgrace.

From what I can see, the young people who end up utterly broken by the system are not the ones who end up with a long-term professional career in the industry. The people who end up teaching at vocational level tend to be the fortunate resilient ones who overcame all the rotten stuff. And because they coped with it, they perpetuate it, because in their minds you have to be tough to succeed (like they did) and anyone who isn't tough enough will fall by the wayside. So many of them have the attitude that they need to make or break their students. Too bad for the ones who fall by the wayside. As far as I'm concerned, until we can change that mindset, things will never get better.

Something that people often don't realise with hypermobility is that it isn't entirely to do with having ligaments and tendons that are stretchier than normal. In some cases, it is down to the construction of the bones in the joints themselves, which allow a greater range of movement than usual. This is called benign joint hypermobility syndrome, or BJHS. People with completely flat turnout (including my dd) can have a shallower socket in their hip joints, for example, and can do the splits with complete ease with no stretching required at all. What they don't always have is the strength in the muscles to control that extra facility, and for hypermobile dancers, strengthening exercises are considerably more important than stretching! No stretching exercise in the world is going to change the shape of the bones you were born with. All overstretching will do is to cause the joint ligaments to elongate, thus increasing instability in the joint. Not what you want.

Having read your update, I do wonder whether it is a combination of factors at play here, and that maybe he is worried you will be disappointed in him if he 'gives up' so soon. Maybe reassure him that he has choices and it is totally normal to be confused when faced with a big decision. He can leave any time he wants to (right now if necessary), he can finish this term and wait until the Christmas holidays to decide, he can go back in the new year or he can finish then. Whatever he decides, you will support him no matter what. My dd had a massive crisis during the Christmas break of her second year in upper school and really didn't want to go back, so I do have an understanding of what it's like to be a parent in this situation - although of course she was much older at the time. She did ultimately decide to return, but an injury forced her hand in the end anyway.

Sad news on the BBC website that Lionel Blair passed away yesterday aged 92.

No, another one. I was responding to someone's suggestion that parents are proactive and intervene sooner by sharing our experience of having tried to do just that. I was making the point that some of the upper schools will do their utmost to avoid engaging with parents at all, even when there are strong reasons they should be doing so.

MODERATORS' NOTE: The following does NOT relate to White Lodge: They closed ranks on us and we were met with a brick wall and an absolute refusal to co-operate. It was only because they knew they'd been negligent (and that we'd take them to the cleaners if it went to court) that we got any concession at all.

The cynic in me thinks that maybe they don't allow their students to enter because it would look bad for the reputation of the school if they didn't win...

So the computer was in the studio during the exam, was it? I am furious on your student's behalf. Could you contact the RAD and ask them to speak to the teacher in charge of the intensive during the week prior to the exam? Perhaps they could comsult this teacher and ask whether they think the student's exam marks show a true picture or whether she was severely disadvantaged during that particular section, and had actually performed far better when dancing with a pianist during the intensive.

No idea about Sansha, but Capezio use US sizing which is around 2 sizes smaller than UK. So if you are a size 4 you'd probably need a Capezio 6 or thereabouts, and they also do different widths.

Our house configuration is not conducive to zoom dance classes unfortunately.

I do have impingements, both age-related and physique-related as well! I've started an 'adult beginners' class, but the teacher changes things every week and we never seem to do the same exercise twice and I never get to the point where I can remember anything. I don't know, but I find it really difficult to do something different every time and I don't think I'm making any progress, so maybe a syllabus class might suit me better really. Which is why I started looking for the Silver Swans classes.

I've wanted to take up dance for a while and have been waiting for a local school to start offering these classes. This term there are now three dance schools within a reasonable travelling distance which are offering RAD Silver Swans classes, but I can't go to any of them. They are all held during the day, and I am at work. The syllabus is specifically designed for the over 55's, but I can't retire for a long time yet, and many of us will have to work until we are 66 or 67, so many of us are missing out on this opportunity, So really this is a plea from myself (and no doubt others aged 55+) who would love to join in. If you and other schools nearby already have, or are adding, Silver Swans to your school timetable, please would you come together with other teachers in your area and arrange for one class to be held during the evening so that those of us who are not yet retired can get a look-in. Thank you!

The only thing Nadine Dorries knows about the arts is what it's like to appear on telly in I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here. And that went down like a lead balloon with her constituents, not to mention the local Tory party HQ... especially since she pushed off to Australia without telling them, and they only found out where she was because it was all over the newspapers a couple of days later.

Oh good grief, she's my MP. I don't know how much she knows about culture, but she didn't give a toss when I contacted her about funding for vocational dance training several years ago.

Similar thing happened to me at work once. My boss (the Financial Director ironically) and the other big cheeses were off to Cheltenham for a corporate jolly on Gold Cup day. I gave him a fiver to bet on a horse in the Gold Cup and the starting price was 16/1. He decided not to place my bet. Apparently my horse had such long odds he didn't want me to lose. Well the horse came in first. He gave me my £5 back the next day, and I did ask where my other £80 was, but I never got it out of him. I fiddled my holiday entitlement instead!

There are several clips on youtube but they all seem to be the primary grade. You might have to contact the RAD and ask if they know of any other recordings.