daisybell

Thank you Tippy Tippy. For what it's worth with my limited knowledge of this mad ballet world....you just have to go with it! The training they get will stay with them forever...whatever they finally end up doing. I know two wonderful dancers who have now re trained as personal fitness instructors and are doing very well indeed. Others that have remained in companies (some happy, others not so). Some like my daughter have gone into musical theatre and others who have gone back to study and do something completely different. It is a very rocky road at times. You worry for them constantly, where will the next job come from, where will they end up living/working, will they earn enough to support themselves...the list goes on! When it's good it can be amazing...when it isn't it's really hard. You just have to go with it I'm afraid x

Haven't posted on here for a few years but a friend told me about this thread. My daughter is in Phantom and I just wanted to say that they are all ballet trained and have all been to a vocational ballet schools including RBS, Elmhurst and Central. My daughter danced in the Czech Republic for 3 years before returning to the Uk to dance in Phantom. She is the first cover Meg and yes she does wear a microphone as Meg but she also wears one in her role as one of the ballet girls. They can all sing and if they get down to the final few in the audition they have to sing a solo as well as dance. They warm up before every show and have a lovely studio space at the very top of the theatre in the Dome and they are very very well looked after...far better in my experience than she ever was when dancing abroad..but that's another story! For what it's worth I have never seen my daughter so happy. She adores her ballet and takes classes at Pineapple etc but her life in Musical theatre over the last couple of years has been amazing.

I can only speak of the reality of company life abroad for my DD and it is tough! Homesickness, language barriers, short and often rushed company classes. Performances sprinkled over several weeks and mixed with perhaps a contemporary piece or dancing in an Opera....not a run of say Swan Lake like a company such as BRB would do but bits here there and everywhere! Pay can be shockingly bad and just enough to live on. Getting very few days/weeks holiday so they can't get home to see family doesn't help but it also means that the long summer break is very much needed when it finally comes. Yes you get the "ups" when they get a good role to dance or are enjoying a particular performance but in general it is very hard. I think the difference to being at school especially in the last few years at 6th form where it is so busy, so full on with stresses of company auditions compare to life once in a company is massive. If finally after all that training they manage to get a job they may end up a long way from home and it can come as a real shock. Lets face it they are still so young at 19 when most of their friends have only just started Uni life! I have no idea what the future will bring for my DD, at the moment she has another years contract where she is so time will tell. But having another career plan for later on can only be a good thing...ballet is a very short career for most.

My DD is 5ft 3inch (with a very high bun!) When she was doing the audition rounds last year she found many companies where she was just too short. She didn't even get to the audition stage because they were looking for dancers of 5ft 5inch plus. Equally she has a friend who is finding she is too tall (5ft 9inchs) for many companies in this years audition rounds, however she now has an offer in a company who wanted tall dancers. You will also find some companies out there who have a really wide range of heights in their company. Where my daughter works the height range for girls is between 5ft 1inch to 5ft 10inchs! They need tall and short dancers, the 4 little ones have recently danced Cygnets so being petite was very useful for that role.

To be honest no it wasn't aileen! She danced at 2 different local schools that were both run in little village halls plus she did do lots of All England Festivals which her school were pretty successful at. We also tried to let her do as many Easter/ Summer schools as we could afford and we did pay for weekly one to one lessons before she started to audition for 6th form. So no it wasn't anything special. I think her journey has been pretty unusual although we do know of others who have had the same route into a career as a dancer. Many road to Rome as they say ;-)

"Some offer senior associate programmes but if you are of that age you should really be in the full time vocational course if you are looking at dance for a career" Sorry but I don't agree restor....Just to throw a spanner in the works ...my daughter was never an associate and she also didn't go to vocational school till 16. She is now a professional ballet dancer.

I can only speak for Central and Elmhurst. At Central yes some were asked to repeat 2nd year but then (almost all) went on into 3rd year and are now dancing (beautifully I might add) in Ballet Central this year. Often its because of injury that they need to repeat but yes unfortunately some are assessed out for all kinds of reasons and some also decide to take another route like Musical Theatre. They all do understand when they start at Central that it is a 2 year course, the school made it very clear. In the years my daughter did at Elmhurst (6.2 and 6.3) some did leave but I'm not aware it was because they were assessed out .I think it was because they wanted to move to different schools and/or change direction etc. Also with the foundation degree work my daughter did in her 1st year at Central she was able to put it all towards her diploma at Elmhurst so fortunately it wasn't wasted. If she decides later on down the road she can turn that diploma into a degree anyway. When you start on this journey you just don't know where it will take you, I found it best to take one year at a time and try not to look too far ahead!

Hi balletmum, I guess every break is different but my daughter broke (actually she smashed!) her elbow to pieces and also broke it further down her arm by falling down the stairs at school almost 3 years ago this month. She had to have a metal plate fitted to put her elbow back together and was in plaster for several weeks. She was in her first year at vocational school and the consultant was unsure if she would get full movement back once it was out of plaster. Unfortunately she also had a very bad infection following the op and was on antibiotics for months BUT following a 2nd op to remove the metal plate she did get full movement back after lots and lots of physio at school. She found Pas de deux difficult to start with because the strength in that arm took a long time to build back up again. You just have to be really patient (she was so frustrated!) and let it heal in its own time but my DD was back to full training within 6 or 7 months. I hope your poor DD heals fast and is ok x

I can say from experience that if you feel you can keep trying then don't give up! My DD auditioned for a year 10 place and again for a 6th form at Elmhurst and got a no at both auditions. She did however get a yes for 6th form at Central and started her training there. She hadn't come from a vocational training back ground but danced at a local dance school 15 hours a week. However Elmhurst for her was always a dream so she gave it "one last go" after a year at Central (which was wonderful) and to hers and our amazement was offered a place there and then to start immediately and luckily with a DADA. I really don't know why things were so different this time round as it was only a year since she'd auditioned with them before. perhaps it was the training she'd had at Central, perhaps she had just simply matured with her dancing...it is and always will be a mystery to me! Anyway she did 6.2 and 6.3 at Elmhurst and graduated in the summer of 2012. She is now a professional ballet dancer in the Czech Republic so never give up because you just never know! Wishing your DD lots of luck with her remaining auditions and stay positive...this ballet world can be a strange one

Yes my DD did this summer school a few times. The best way for me to describe it is that its very different and a bit of an acquired taste. Not one of our happiest experiences but I know lots do enjoy it and go back year after year.

I can certainly vouch for the singing lessons at Elmhurst and my DD has really enjoyed the choir. She's going to miss that when she graduates this month! The music has been a real bonus for her. Hope all the new starters have a lovely day on the 7th and enjoy the show too. x

Oh I think 5 foot 7 is a good height and nothing for her to worry about. Lots of the European companies want 5 foot 5 and above! Thank you for your kind wishes, its been an exhausting year to be honest. x

A lot of the European companies seem to like a height of 5ft 5inch for girls which made it tricky for my DD who is 5ft 3inch! But happily not all want that so she could still audition for plenty of places. She emailed or wrote to 36 companies, did 11 auditions and was offered 2 short term contracts which she didn't take as she'd have had to leave school early. One offer but they didn't have a contract free yet (very annoying and an expense we could have done without) and a proper job offer...phew! A good place to look is Network dance, auditions are put on there and you can also find company names and address and to be honest that's what we did. Dd sent her CV to a whole list of companies and just emailed them direct to ask if they either had an audition or if she could take company class. Actually once we got an idea of where companies were we started looking on a map for larger cities to see if they had ballet companies and that's how she found the the company in the Czech Republic where she has now been offered a contract starting in August. Its a very expensive time and after we'd added up what we've spent I need to lie down in a dark room! :-)

My dd was at Central but is now at Elmhurst so I've had experience of London and Birmingham accomodation. While she was at Central she stayed at the Barbican (2 years ago) and we had the nightmare of bed bugs in 2 rooms! It was so bad she had to move back home and travel into London every day till we could find a flat, 2 hour journey each way! Must add though that although others had the same problem some have never had to deal with the delights of bed bugs!! Perhaps we were just very unlucky. Anyway this led to her moving out asap into a flat even though she was only just 17, I was very worried about her living in a flat at such a young age. We had no problems finding a flat for an under 18 and just acted as her guarantor. The cost was around £500 a month as she shared with another student, bills and food on top of that too. Just a thought but we did look at Chester House as well, it was so clean and I believe the food is pretty good too. It isn't cheap and it is a bit of a trek to Central but a friends daughter has lived there for 3 years and is very happy.