Seagazer

Ibis ( formerly Etap)is certainly cheapest-and reliable.Staff are helpful. I take a travel kettle with me( they aren't provided), and my own breakfast, as their breakfast isn't great.

Yes it's the 6:1 boys. Nice to hear my DS, not heard his voice since he went last week.Thank you for sharing, it was lovely to see BRB in class too, especially Jade Heusen. Thank you so much for posting.

How many layers of net does it have please ?

I think dancedezines.co.uk are based in Birmingham , they are a costume company who I have ordered from on the past and found very helpful

That's great thank you Tulip, not heard from DS since before the dancing day began!

What brilliant news ! Congratukations, so exciting

Yes, IDS - they give great service, highly recommend them.

Thank you for letting us know, certainly saves me a wasted journey. I usually stock up on ballet class music, pointe magazine and dance magazine in August....maybe time to explore an iPad version..

I have 4 polo shirts size 11-12, 2 size xs, 1 size s. 1 formal wear jacket ( boys) size xs 1 v neck sweatshirt size xs All with school logo, pm please if interested.... More to follow

Thank you for sharing- made very interesting reading

So sad to have missed it, but glad to hear you enjoyed it:)

Julie- such a shame I can't be there tomorrow, would love to thank you personally for the great help and advice you gave me two years ago. I'm missing the 6th form induction but will be watching from Weds- having seen the rehearsal pics I'm really looking forward to 6 th formers- especially the ballet and jazz. Emotions will be running high by Friday. I hope all the new starters parents find the staff as warm and as genuine as I have. I cannot imagine a houseparent better than the one my ds has had for the past 29 months.

A surprising amount of towns have German-British clubs, it might be worth googling. Not the same as learning it, but exposure to it will help., and perhaps lead to you finding someone who can pop round for coffee and conversation?

They've just soggily flopped through the letter box....from 70% - 87%, a great end to the year!

Perhaps because I was only in smaller companies, I don't know...but this wasn't the case for me. I could manage in class, as the enchainment were in French, but for the first few weeks I really struggled in rehearsals as I couldn't understand the directions, or the corrections, which were all in German. My first performance had been in the repertoire the previous season, so there were only a couple of newbies, and just a few studio rehearsals before we went to the stage. It was daunting to say the least. Our director was Hungarian, and the majority of the dancers Polish, and the common language was German. Later we had a Polish director and after some awkward situations we were told officially that all rehearsals were to be conducted in German. It was a small company though, with only 20 dancers on full contracts. You do pick it up quickly though when needs must.

Yay Julie, that's great

I would like to recommend a book by Twyla Tharp....it is called The Creative Habit and i stumbled upon it in Waterstones (£8.99) It is not aimed specifically at choreographers, but as her personal experiences are as a dancer and a choreographer it is really pertinent. it is a great read, and full of inspiration and method to help channel ideas, impressions, and create good work habits.

Slightly off topic, but I am stalking the postman today for exam results for all my pupils. I had two full days of exams at the weekend, and we generally get the results within a week, tho the certificates and score break down takes about 8 weeks to arrive. About 100 pupils took exams, and a couple had been off ill the week before, and one recovering from an injury. in our Society (ARBTA), they like to be informed of pupils with dyspraxia, dyslexia,ADHD etc with a Doctors note. It is then taken into consideration, but I am not sure to what extent . I prefer to withdraw ill/ injured pupils, provide a Doctors note, and the exam fee rolls over to the next session. Come on postie - even though it's only a short wait, it seems interminable, and there are so many of them, and they've all been so focused.

Thanks for updating Julie & the link. I knew that budgets were being cut,and companies were regrouping and indeed smaller companies have been lost along the way. Those employed in Staatsballett and at Stadttheater are still employed by the state though?I second the advise to visit Munich is a beautiful city with a wonderful company. There are also a number of small independent contemporary companies, with a strong contemporary dance scene in Cologne.

Ooh this sounds great, I will like it on my schools fb account tomorrow- toi toi toi to you!

They are state funded in Germany, so you become an employee of the state. There have been many cutbacks, and a lot of smaller companies have gone, or amalgamated with neighbouring cities. Still the arts are held in greater esteem in Germany, and a Sunday afternoon operetta followed by coffee and cakes is a regular occurrence. Perhaps it harks back to the amount of great composers, pets and playwrights who are German born? The theatre is part of everyone's life. There are plenty of children and youth theatres, providing productions for the young all season, thus from a young age children become theatre goers. I spent many seasons as a freelance choreographer, choreographing musicals at theatres which were acting companies.When they put on musicals they hired musical directors, orchestra/band, and dancers ,alongside their core of actors . All state run and funded.

That's great Spanner,I managed 90% aged 12, and at 16 an o level, then 3 years no German whilst at Central....when auditioning there I knew lots of useful phrases, ( what is the best way to the train station? Etc), but hadn't the foggiest idea what the replies meant. I think once working there it only took 6 weeks before I was dreaming in German - complete submersion really helped, I'm really glad I had my rusty school German as a basis. I hope your dd is Russia bound

The provision of A levels were definitely among the factors taken into consideration by those at Elmhurst who also had offers at ENB.

Where do you live dancing10?

Congratulations ! The curly toes don't seem to be an issue that is worrying the schools