taxi4ballet

OP - you clearly have misgivings about the current school, otherwise you wouldn't have started the thread. Practically speaking, one of the best times to think about changing dance schools is at this time of year. Between now and the end of term there is the opportunity for your dd to have a trial lesson or two at other dance schools locally, to see how she gets on, and so that you (the paying customer) can see what else is available. I know a lot of dance styles revolve around the competition circuit - ballroom & latin springs readily to mind - but for the most part, dance (ballet in particular) is a performing art and not a competitive one.

I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with schools which enter their students into competitions per se. But (and it is a big but) as long as it isn't the be-all and end-all. Some of them concentrate so much on the competition aspect that there really isn't enough time in their schedule to pay attention to a solid grounding in technique, which is particularly important in ballet. That classical ballet technique also feeds into their modern, jazz, lyrical and contemporary dance too.

Yes I agree, occasionally assisting and teaching something in a class at the request of the teacher is fine, but senior students regularly teaching a full class of younger kids at the dance school is a very long way from ideal.

No, that is absolutely not standard, and it shouldn't be happening. Nobody should be terrified of being told off in a dance class. Point 4 in your OP is also concerning. Just what is the point in learning something if it isn't done properly or with correctly trained technique? Ingrained bad habits are incredibly difficult to get rid of. You're not paying for her to receive training from unqualified seniors, aside from everything else, they will not have a knowledge and understanding of anatomy and physiology, and what is or is not appropriate for each individual dancer at their age and level. Point 6 is outright bullying. What would you do if this was happening at your dd's academic school?

How about buying, say, 4 frozen individual vegetable lasagnes and decanting them into a large oven dish so you end up with one big one?

Not all that many of them come within striking distance of us very often either! Milton Keynes and Aylesbury are our 'locals' so to speak, so we do occasionally get to see ENB and Northern, and I think we saw Ballet Cymru in Stevenage once.

Marvellous though it is for the company to be in Japan, I do sometimes wish they would tour the UK on occasion...

I'm on a certain large well-known parenting forum under this name, but if you see it anywhere else, it ain't me.

Ah. One might be a complete coincidence, but two? Somewhat less so. Are you going to keep an eye on it?

With the school holidays coming up fairly soon, I wonder whether a visit to an osteopath might be worthwhile, just to make sure there's nothing out of alignment in the neck, back or hip areas. It could just be a growth spurt - we were told that the bones grow quicker than the muscles and tendons, and you have to wait for them to catch up. Meanwhile, flexibility is reduced considerably. Another reason to avoid stretching I suppose. Leg bones also have a tendency to grow one leg at a time for some odd reason, so if that's the case, that will throw everything out of kilter.

People who assume that 'sinister forces' must be at play when they don't get the job they have been angling for.

There is a school of thought which says that inappropriate stretching does more harm than good, and I'm inclined to agree with that.

Me neither.

This is something that needs to be discussed with the young person's dance teacher, because it will depend entirely on their age, physique and level of training.

Honestly, the miles I clocked up... !

My dd did two lots of associates simultaneously, fortunately they were different days. No issue with it at all.

Life's too short for all that nonsense.

Once again our local cinema put the house lights up immediately the curtain fell, so we had to try and watch the curtain calls through a sea of people all getting up, fumbling round for bags & cardigans and making their way out, before the broadcast had finished. I'm going to have words, I think. It ain't over till it's over!

Brilliant, thank you!

Is there a link to the full cast sheet for this evening yet, I can only find the one that has the principals on it.

I'd be disappointed in a dance school that insisted on payment for a half-term when the student was unable to dance for medical reasons.

Following this thread with interest. As a youngster in the 1970's, my parents sent me to ballet classes. I wasn't very good at it, being far too tall, round-shouldered, and with no turnout to speak of whatsoever. Despite these inadequacies, my teacher imposed such training on me as I was capable of absorbing. He must have despaired, really! I only recently discovered that I had been trained in the Cecchetti method when I remembered his name. I googled 'Leo Kersley' and found out just who my teacher had been.

High class training for talented young dancers in fantastic studios, with a pianist, at one of the best dance schools in the country. That would sum it up really.

Brilliant!

That's interesting to know about Hammond, it is a few years ago since we were on the audition merry-go-round, and for some reason Hammond was one that slipped through dd's net and she never auditioned there. Can't remember why now, but I don't recall them offering all the courses then as they do now.