taxi4ballet

Agree with the above. You could also ask your ballet teacher to check your technique to ensure that you are not pulling back and 'locking' your knees.

And another 'excuse' often heard from a certain type of teacher: "Well I was trained using these methods, and it never did me any harm". It puts the resilience of children into question, and is basically accusing them of not having sufficient moral fibre to be able to cope with stringent training.

I have noticed that the usual defence of the school in these situations is a "Well of course the real reason that they didn't succeed / got assessed out / fell by the wayside / suffered mental health problems is because basically they weren't good enough, and all this complaining is sour grapes".

That will probably be a Question Time Special...

It may or may not turn out to be indefensible. We need to wait and see what is said in the programme first.

I would recommend the dance days at Tring Park School in Hertfordshire. They do short residential courses as well, for when she's a bit older.

Crikey. I think I might have to watch that then.

In my case, not at all, because I don't follow any of them.

Sssshhhh!!! Don't tell people about Cafe Nero in Long Acre, there won't be any seats left for me! That is my go-to place for coffee, lunch, cake and whatnot when I'm in that part of London.😂

A wander through Hatton Garden is always an eye-opener, some of the jewellery is truly spectacular. Mind you - one time I did that, little did I know that the infamous Hatton Garden safe deposit robbery was actually in progress in one of the buildings as I walked past...

RIP Parky, one of the greats who let his guests be the star of the show.

You wouldn't tolerate blatant favouritism in your dc's academic school, so really the same should apply to a dance school.

Agreed.

Good. A proper, regulated, age-appropriate structured syllabus at long last. Excellent news.

If she'd doing EYB, you will meet loads of other like-minded parents with dc at all stages of training at drop off/collect, so you should be able to pick up plenty of information that way. Also, it is well worth volunteering as a parent chaperone, EYB do ask!

Just a plain neutral style, in a colour that suits the dancer's skin tone, and slightly higher cut in the leg accentuates leg length.

Well there we are then... "a driving force behind the development of ballet as an artform." Ballet. Ballet as an art form, not ballet developed so far it morphs into contemporary.

I don't think it is unfortunate at all. I think it is highly appropriate in the physical sense, and I speak from a position of having spent most of my youth on horseback, and as an adult, have a professionally-trained ballet dancer as a daughter. I have an insight into both camps as it were. An Olympic dressage horse will have spent the best part of a decade being trained in a very specific, restrained, and highly controlled way to execute complicated moves with great accuracy, calmness and artistry. Its body will have developed musculature, ligaments and tendons specifically with those moves in mind, and to a large extent muscle memory will have taken over. The horse will have been specially chosen for that type of training due to its conformation, mindset and trainable physique in that style. Compare that with, say, a Grand National Winner. It will have been trained to the physical limit for endurance, and to jump at speed without losing momentum. It is not expected to respond calmly and steadily to nuanced aids from its rider, but to enthusiastic urging from its jockey to go flat out, get its head in front, and channel its instinct to win. Its muscles and physique will have been trained and developed in an entirely different manner to those of the dressage horse, and again, the horse will have specifically been chosen for its trainable physique and natural jumping ability. They are both world-beaters in their specific fields, but would both find it very challenging to participate in the activity of the other, and the possiblilty of injury would be high. The same goes for the riders. A dressage rider would have trouble on the racecourse. Some horses are trained for three-day eventing, in which they are expected to both jump at speed and to execute dressage manouevres. World-class horses in this field might very well win Olympic gold medals and World championships in three-day eventing, but none of them would be expected to hold their own when pitted against pure dressage horses or racehorses in training. So there we are, that's my view. As the old saying goes: horses for courses.

Ask her dance school if they do a non-syllabus / free work class she could join, or maybe whether they would let her start the next grade class up as well as the one she is currently in.

What concerns me is that students at White Lodge are funded by the MDS scheme (if they qualify for funding) but most of them do not then continue into the upper school and into the company or into other prestigious companies. The funding body might well look at the success of the MDS scheme and wonder whether their money is being well spent, bearing in mind how few funded students complete their training. They might decide that perhaps MDS funding is not the best use of taxpayers' money, at this school or at the others offering the same scheme, if the students don't go on to complete their training and find employment. It might call the entire performing arts funding system into question, and where would that leave talented British youngsters whose parents can't afford full fees? We are at a time when the government is looking very hard at degree courses, the drop-out rate and whether the graduates of those courses go on to successful careers in that field. They might widen the net and look at funding for performing arts courses as well.

I agree. Contemporary needs a considerable level of core strength, and the physical maturity which only comes with age. This is why many schools don't teach contemporary to younger dancers, but wait until they are older.

With the greatest respect, I do know what I'm talking about. As it happens, my family has personal experience of the psychological damage that can be caused by dance training. I do not believe that children should be shouted at in a dance class.

A 7 year-old cannot contextualise in a mature way. Maybe that's how things were done, but that doesn't make it right. I've heard this argument so many times: "Oh that's how I was trained, and it never did me any harm!!" There is NO excuse for verbal abuse or instilling fear into dance students in 2023. I had been hoping we'd moved on from all that.

There is a big difference between a raised voice to cut over the top of loud music, and shouting at the children to make them do as they are told. I find it quite worrying that children (and their parents) are being conditioned to accept that getting shouted at is normal in a dance class.

My dd had several years' break from pointe after a career-ending injury, and recently bought some again. She said the fitter in Bloch was marvellous.