All4dancers

I think I might start saving - I feel a holiday coming on!

My dd (aged 12) loved every minute of YBSS once again. There were three classes a day (4 when pointe classes were offered), for the younger children, these consisted of two ballet classes and a baroque class. The older children did contemporary. She felt the classes were larger this year, although she wasn't sure of the numbers (perhaps someone else can help here, maybe about 25?). They were divided by age, and she felt the level was about right, but she would perhaps have liked to be challenged just a little bit more. The younger group were divided further by ability, although she missed out on this as she was sick on the day this was done. DD loved the variety of teachers, some of whom had been there the year before and remembered her. Corrections and praise were regularly given. Pointe work for her age group was optional and this really did challenge her as she normally only does half an hour a week and she felt that this was where she learnt and improved the most. The house parents took them on a couple of outings into town for shopping and ice cream - I think the older children were allowed to go by themselves. In the evenings they watched films, had a kareoke evening, played games and listened to a variety of speakers, for example a member of the Royal Ballet. She was certainly never bored and she also said the food was good. She can't wait for next year!

Also dropped mine off too! She was a little nervous as she has never done NYB before, but the other girls in her dorm seemed absolutely lovely and they all went off to class together, my dd actually forgot to say good bye!

If you have facebook and 'like' the ENB page, you will get notifications of workshops and other events.

I wouldn't worry too much, my dd is 12 and only took Grade 4 this year. This is partly due to the fact that she didn't start ballet until she was 9 and also because the dance school she started at only did one exam entry a year, as they are such a small school. However, she does take extra classes at intermediate level now, but will still work through the grades. She is also at summer school at the moment and is having no problems keeping up with the other children her age and older.

Well normal or not, we were very happy with the advice and will act upon it

Spanner, the lady's name was Kay, Jellybeans, I'm not sure if this is normal or not as it was only dd's second pair, she apparently said dd had beautiful feet, but wasn't using them properly.

Thanks for everyone's advice. The fitter at Freed was apparently fantastic and spent a long time with my dd. Her older sister who took her said that she almost gave her a pointe lesson! She said she had developed a few bad habits, mostly through her first pointe shoes not really being suitable for her. She then gave her a number of exercises to do daily and said she definitely wanted to see her again. So I think that's where we will go in future.

We had an appointment for a pointe shoe fitting this coming Thursday, the last chance we have before summer school. Unfortunately the lady left a message today cancelling the appointment due to illness. We have already spent money (alot of money) on the train fare to London and can't afford to waste it. We need to ring round tomorrow to try and get an appointment somewhere else. Her current (first pair) of pointes are Freed vcuts but they are not only too small now but broken. However, she has been really happy with them and has had no problems, not even a blister. Do you think I should just try and make an appointment at Freed's? Will Covent Garden shops be able to fit us in at such short notice? We are feeling a bit desperate . Thanks in advance.

Completely agree Elly, I have been told this about my dd on a number of occasions by different dance teachers. However, I think at 12, so many things can happen, she is determined and prepared to work hard and perhaps not do some of the things her non-dancing friends do. But there will always be things you can't factor in and although I can't imagine it now, she could always change her mind in the future, so to be told she has potential is certainly good enough for us

At our school, we encourage children to bring certificates in to show in assembly. It encourages them to take part in extra-curricular activities and also recognises their achievements which we like to celebrate with them.

Yorkshire Ballet Summer School for my dd

Will keep fingers crossed dancerbabe, places have to be accepted by July 1st, so it maybe that your pupil will hear about a place after that.

I actually stopped my dd from doing acro as she is very flexible naturally, particularly in her back and in fact has had to work really hard to control her posture because of this. That's the main reason why we have chosen an associate course that puts so much emphasis on body conditioning. Maybe gymnastic classes would be okay for somebody that wasn't very flexible.

Just checked my email after reading this - it's a YES for my dd too! She was fast asleep in bed after a busy day, but as I leave for work before she gets up, I couldn't resist waking her briefly to give her the good news. You can bet she will have happy dreams tonight!

This performance was such a lot of fun and we all left on a real high. I can only imagine the work that must have gone in to putting the two very different styles of dance together to create what I felt was such a natural result. My favourite pieces were the pas de deux which was quite simply beautiful and the masquerade ball; gripping and dramatic! I would definitely recommend it. The final highlight for my youngest daughter was having her program signed and getting a cuddle from 'Bounce'!

A couple of years ago after a series of turns down the aisle of a local supermarket ended in a collision and subsequent collapse of a display, I was asked either to keep my dd under control or leave immediately!

I'm taking my dds to see this on Sunday - we are very excited!

So sorry Afab, I think your story shows what a harsh place the performance world is - wherever you live. Hope you can work something out. x

At a parent/teacher meeting in the autumn, my dd's PE teacher said "I knew she was a dancer as soon as I saw her feet!"

I think we are lucky in this respect. At my dd's school they are very strict on what shoes they can wear and clearly stipulate that shoes must be sturdy and sensible; no ballet flats and no high heels either. At least that's one less battle!

My dd did pantomime for the first time this/last year. She loved every minute of it and was quite sad when it was over. However, I really don't want her to audition again this year for two reasons: The first is that it is a massive committment over Christmas and new year (6 weeks in our case) that affects the whole family. The other main reason is that she missed an awful lot of ballet training, and all coming up to audition season. On the plus side, apart from the enjoyment she also got alot of performance experience. School was absolutely fine about the time she had to have off and she was very disciplined about doing her school work in between performances. I think she is going to feel quite torn when it's time to audition again, but we did agree that she could do it once. In my opinion, I don't think there would be much to gain from doing it again this year, although I know some girls who audition year upon year.

What I'd like to know is what is the difference between modern and jazz? The jazz my dd does isn't freestyle, it's very syllabus based (BATD). The jazz she does is ISTD. When I ask her the difference she just said "the dances are more weird in modern" !!!

I can do that. I remember horrifying my friends at school!

When you spend your life on a train!