taxi4ballet

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my online friends (and the few who know me in person- you know who you are!)

And a big thank you to all the moderators on the forum.

21 hours ago, Farawaydancer said:

I agree, really difficult to do. But not impossible to do, and without it nothing will change. In our case, there was no way I was sacrificing my ds’s mental health for a school place and possible future career. 
 

But the point I was making was that it’s naive to think this is an issue that only affects our vocational students. Cruel and inappropriate people are in positions of power throughout our lives, in schools, workplaces, churches, sports clubs…and they need dealing with. 

Some might not tell their parents though, not if they think that their parents will remove them from the school. It only comes out at crisis point.

17 minutes ago, Farawaydancer said:

I do think it’s important to remember too, that bullying, abuse, inappropriate comments, disregard for mental health etc. all happen in every school across the country. This is not limited in any way to vocational schools (although the higher rate of eating disorders is different)  I work in ‘normal’ mainstream schools and I hear these complaints from parents and students far too often. The difference is that the parents and students speak up, it’s not a secret to be hidden. The number of teachers removed from teaching for misconduct is staggering, and the records are public.  It of course doesn’t make it in any way ok or something to be normalised, but it really isn’t just a dance specific issue (or sport, or other vocational route). 

There's one big difference though, isn't there?

Students at vocational school can be afraid to speak up because they are scared stiff of losing their place at the school and having to kiss goodbye to any chance of a career. Having the courage to complain about a teacher at a vocational school is a whole different kettle of fish compared with complaining about one at the local comprehensive.

Gargouillades were once described to me as a small circling movement, like water going down a plughole, such as you would find draining out of the mouth of a gargoyle on a building. Hence the name - the French word for gargoyle is gargouille.

1 hour ago, CCL said:

Yes, I think the first ENB Nutcracker I saw in 2010 had Joseph Sissens as Freddie! I wish I could re-live that performance, as it also featured Vadim Muntagirov as lead in the waltz of the flowers…

Sadly I can’t fit in any RB Nuts this year, but was hoping to make up for it next year. Disappointed to hear that won’t be the case, although I’m already excited about Cinderella.

There was a tv documentary series about that ENB Nutcracker with Joe and Vadim in it, we did have the programmes stored on our digibox for a while, but they got culled by accident. 

5 hours ago, LinMM said:

Hope you better soon taxi4ballet! Your tree sounds wonderful. I wonder which sugar plum gets the top spot at the top! 

I have an angel in a burgundy dress on top of the tree, who looks remarkably like one of the angels who glide about like daleks in the RB Nutcracker.🤣

Well, with the repeated uncertainty over train strikes, the inability to get time off work on the right day, and now covid, I am missing seeing the Nutcracker altogether this year. Still... at least I can sit here looking at my Nutcracker-themed Christmas tree instead!

Tring Park School does weekly adult ballet classes on Saturday mornings. The towns are not that far apart, so there is probably a bus route.

Thanks, I haven't been keeping up to date with the whole thread, I just read the last few comments on the current page today. What a nuisance for him, hope he's soon on the mend.

What's happening with Bennet Garside, is he injured?

11 hours ago, CHazell2 said:

What's wrong with the pony?

 

I don't think that they are ill treated and it adds a sense of realism to the scene.

I think it is to do with the level of realism which can be left behind on stage when the pony departs!

Rosin can be a bit gritty so i'd steer clear of that anyway.

AD Christopher Marney. Good chap.

There are far more options available at 18+ for musical theatre, and I would suggest that she does stay on at school and do A-levels. Aside from everything else, that would give her UCAS points and enable her to study dance at university level. Dance courses at local colleges from 16-18 tend to be at at level 3 (equivalent to A-level standard) and are relatively basic level industry-wise, so few people would go on from that into their career. The courses are intended as a stepping stone into full-time training at 18 really.

So to be honest, she would be better off doing A-levels and continuing at her current dance school. She could also look at workshops and holiday courses run by the professional dance colleges and places like Tring and Hammond. If she enjoys singing, she could join a local Rock Choir as well.

There are no guarantees of a career in the performing arts however good you are, and it really does pay to have a Plan B (and possibly a Plan C too).

A friend of mine has a massage gun and she says it is brilliant.

Could you speak to one of the associate teachers and ask their advice as to which scheme would suit your dd better?

59 minutes ago, Henry said:

I notice that your original post was 01:38 in the morning.  I suppose that this is keeping you awake at night. 

 

Really, I think you need more informed advice that you can get from this forum.  You need to talk to people who are better informed about your situation, school, teachers  - and people who know you.  

 

Good luck

 

 

The OP is not in the UK, which explains the time difference.

If you don't mind travelling, then Tring CBA. They also do very good residential short courses that would be worth considering.

I'm not going for two reasons:

1 - the price of tickets. I absolutely cannot justify the expense of becoming a 'Friend' so once tickets finally become available to the general public, most of the reasonably-priced tickets are long gone.

2 - the ongoing rail strikes. I don't want to buy tickets months ahead, and then find I can't get there because there are no trains.

What is the plan B instead of a dance career?

My suggestion is to go to a couple of auditions with a "Don't care if I don't get in because I'm planning on doing something else anyway" attitude, and see what happens.

Well, it appears that the first students to be affected are only now starting primary school, so the likelihood is that things will change again before then.

On 23/09/2023 at 19:55, zxDaveM said:

For new works, I get the impression that they get two runs within 18-24 months 'in the contract' (that is, the opening run, and then one in the next season or so). This is just me reading between the lines, and experiencing new works and their second runs. They have to be REALLY unpopular not to get that second run or the first run was to commemorate something (the Titian works back in 2012 for example). If they prove to be a hit (e.g. Alice in Wonderland, Woolf Works, Winter's Tale) then we get more than 2 runs.

That makes economic sense really. They have made a colossal financial investment in all the costs of a new production and they need to recoup some of those expenses, otherwise spending that much money would be unfeasible.

2 hours ago, Kat09 said:

A crystal ball would have been useful

So true!

One plus point that all former vocational dancers seem to have is determination and a strong work ethic. 

10 hours ago, Graceful said:

This isn’t true at all. 
You can get 4 years and then you can even do a second degree (from a limited list) and get another 3 years funding. 
Please stop misinforming. 

I'm not misinforming, I'm talking about my dd's personal experience. 

I've had enough of this thread now.