Legseleven

I wonder whether a Dance School of England or Wales or Northern Ireland, fee-free, accepting only students who live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland would be tolerated?! Scotland is part of the UK so surely students from any part of the UK should be able to attend a free Scottish vocational school?

'Wicked' is also very witty and clever and several songs would survive entirely outside the context of the show itself. We have seen it twice and would go again like a shot ;-) Otherwise it's 'My Fair Lady' and 'West Side Story' (on stage, not the films) up there as my favourites. I also love 'The King and I' and the film of 'The Sound of Music', although I don't enjoy it onstage as much; clearly spoilt by the scenery, both Austrian and Christopher Plummer in naval uniform awaiting Julie Andrews at the altar. How on earth did she make it up the aisle without swooning away?!!

Hi Lemongirl, congratulations to your DD! I have read this thread with interest and fully understand your reservations in light of your DD starting at an academic secondary school in September. Whilst it is important to get into the habit of doing homework and of good time management, it sounds as though the Three Counties rehearsals will not impinge on your DD's homework and other activities, as the rehearsals are after school on Friday (when, as Aileen said, most children would want a break from homework anyway) so she would never have to choose between homework due the next morning and her rehearsal. The Sunday rehearsals are only twice per term and I am sure that your DD will be able to ensure that she has done all of her homework prior to these so that she can spend the day rehearsing without distraction. As your DD has worked to achieve entry to her academic secondary school, she is clearly academically able and I am sure that she will be more than capable of embracing the ballet opportunity, plus all of the extra-curricular activities she may want to try at her new school, without her academic achievement levels dropping. Don't forget that if your DD eventually follows an academic route, universities and employers will want to know what else, other than academics, she has focused on and achieved in. There are so many children with excellent academic qualifications that those who, like your DD, have also worked on and achieved in other fields such as high level ballet will stand out; even more so when this also proves that their time management and organisational skills are extremely well developed as a result. Those children who have dropped everything except for their academic work to concentrate on academic qualifications to the exclusion of all else don't have that advantage. Maybe it would be a good idea for your DD to talk to her dad and reassure him that she will work very hard to ensure that she develops excellent organisational skills in terms of homework, ballet and other activities and that she appreciates his misgivings but will prove to him that she can manage everything? I appreciate that he is concerned that she has a big educational step to take at the same time as the Three Counties opportunity but I am sure that your DD, like all dancers, is focused and determined enough to make the most of every opportunity, academic, balletic or otherwise and will be eager for the chance to prove this!

For your DD, taxi4ballet: Break a leg!x

The photo ID form referred to by Pups_mum (I think it is available on the RAD website, maybe in a teachers' section?) is VERY simple to complete and you just stick a photo of your DD on it. You complete her name, DOB, exam level etc information and then her teacher signs it to confirm that the photo and details are those of her pupil, your DD.

Was the Krakowiak the alternative to tarantella for Grade 3? I loved the tarantella (can still remember a lot of it, all of the Breton dance for Grade 2 and all of the variation for Senior Grade) and the tambourine bashing, despite an older friend having sliced her finger open during her Grade 3 exam on the tambourine discs.....;-)

Goodness, I also remember the birdcage dance for Grade 1! Plus the Breton dance for Grade 2 and tarantella for Grade 3 and the gorgeous variation for Senior Grade - although bizarrely I have no idea what the Grade 4 dance was! I was sure that the polka was Primary as I wore a white dress with a pink sash for that exam before graduating to those thick nylon Lycra-free leotards after that...?! Happy days!!

I was told that NATD ballet was Russian based and also resembled elements of the old RAD grades syllabus. My DD did a couple of months of NATD alongside RAD ballet (about 5 years ago) and it did remind me a little of the (very!) old RAD syllabus that I did way back in the mists of time,ie the 1970s - although no polka with a partner as in the old RAD Primary! I think the NATD ballet grades included 'theory' questions ie the meaning of the French ballet terms. As I understand it, the ISTD ballet grades go up to grade 6 whereas the RAD grades now go up to grade 8, so I could understand it if the RAD grades were a little behind the ISTD in that the grades work is spread over 8 rather than 6 levels. I don't know how many grades there are in NATD ballet but it certainly didn't appear to be a particularly easy syllabus.

Everything crossed for you and your DD here x

Do you mean that he will only have private ballet lessons from September? If so, that would make me a bit anxious as he is still very young for such concentrated intensive coaching; I must stress that that is just my own gut feeling. I am also conscious that spatial awareness and the ability to dance with or alongside other children will be important when he performs and when he does his exams, unless of course he will do his exams as a lone candidate. Will he continue with the group ballet classes at his theatre school? He may become confused if he continues group ISTD ballet lessons at the theatre school but chooses to do RAD exams at the dance school. If there is no need for him to start doing ballet exams just yet, perhaps he could try some RAD and some ISTD work and then, with his teacher's input, decide which he prefers? He could always start at a grade 1 or higher level if he wanted to do that, he wouldn't have to start at pre-primary or primary. He could then pick up whichever syllabus he doesn't choose at a later date if he wants to do that. Maybe if ISTD has more free work, that might be of more use to him in that he will be accustomed to picking up new choreography quickly when he attends musical theatre auditions and rehearsals?

I would hope that if a single pirouette is requested of a class in which all or most of the students can perform doubles or more, then the students would perform the requested single pirouette. The teacher clearly has a reason for specifying a single pirouette and that is precisely what should be performed.

Huge congratulations to your DD! You must be so proud of all that she has achieved, especially when I think you have previously said that she had some knocks at her previous school. Enjoy your two months with her over the summer! X

My DD has been asked whether she does ballet by a lady in a shop who was watching her rise to demi pointe to reach for an item on a higher shelf. She said she had danced herself and had noticed DD's proportions, in particular her long neck and small head and her arched feet. DD was a bit embarrassed but secretly pleased!

Oh no! Your poor DS. Wishing him a very speedy recovery x

I think a lot of these comments are motivated by jealousy, or feelings of inadequacy, or a need to interfere, or.... We have had these comments made since DD was small. She dances, plays the piano, plays a LOT of sports and achieves academically, all at a high level. She has dropped cello lessons, football team (!) and drama lessons recently, having decided that these were not things she enjoyed as much as what she still does and also because she recognised that she needs to factor in some 'doing nothing' time. As long as your child is happy and enjoying their activities, there is no harm in their having what some people would consider a full schedule. This is especially so for you as your daughter is training seriously and at her age I would have thought that she needs to be doing a lot of training to pursue that ambition. Sometimes children do develop infections/feel exhausted but then in all probability they would have done so anyway; as you rightly point out, your DD may well have picked up her chest infection at school and most teenagers have 'tired all the time' phases due to growth spurts, hormonal activity, etc etc! Try not to let comments like this worry you. Your DD is working hard at something she loves and is given the chance to say if she feels it is too much. It really is no-one else's business.

You also need to bear in mind that other factors beyond your control can affect how well you do in an exam. My DD took her RAD intermediate foundation exam with a pianist who was extremely erratic in terms of tempi and played two of the allegro exercises WAY too fast; we waiting parents and teachers were horrified and my DD and her exam group all had extreme difficulty staying in time whilst not falling. She was very upset afterwards and rightly pointed out that this will affect her marks for those exercises. I have tried to console her by telling her that the examiner will have realised that the music was too fast and should award marks for musicality in that she made sure that she danced in time with the music! - but it is very frustrating that her hard work could well be scuppered by this. (And I must say that I think the examiner should have stopped the exercises, advised the pianist of the correct tempo and had them start the exercises again.)

Break a leg! Very best wishes x

Dancing10, I am sure that your DD's withdrawal for genuine reasons will not lead EYB to think any the less of her. At least she withdrew rather than continuing and simply missing rehearsals, which would cause problems for the other dancers. Whilst the tone of the EYB newsletter may be considered a little harsh, I am not surprised at their view. I am frankly horrified that there were withdrawals because girls let it be known that they considered that the parts in which they were cast were not 'worthy' of their talents. There will always be times when a longed-for part is given to someone else - or an exam result is inexplicably low compared to someone else's - or a prize is awarded elsewhere - and if children can't accept it, (especially older children/teenagers as I assume these girls were), they will have real problems dealing with life in general, which as we all know is simply unfair at times. If my DD auditions and is lucky enough to be successful, I expect her to perform whatever role she is given to the very best of her ability, regardless of whether she is disappointed or how she thinks casting should have gone. Similarly, I expect her to do her best at school, in sports and at her music and if she doesn't do as well as she had hoped, I expect her to be even more determined to carry on, work hard and to try to improve next time. She is now 11 but I have expected this of her since she was tiny. I remember her taking part in her first fun 'sports day', aged 3, when she was amazed that children who fell during a race simply left the field rather than finishing and told her that this was because they were upset that they couldn't win and therefore just bowed out of the race.....

Spannerandpony, my DD did her RAD intermediate foundation exam last week and one girl in the intermediate exam set immediately after her was wearing canvas soft slippers with crossed elastics and no ribbons! AND her teacher was with her in the waiting room overseeing warm up exercises including foot exercises, so it wasn't even that she was inadvertently wearing the wrong pair of shoes...I felt very sorry for her. Not sure whether she would be marked down for not wearing soft pointes with ribbons or whether the examiner may have said something to her? Whilst I think it would be a shame if she suffers for her teacher's failure to ensure she wears the correct footwear, equally it would be unfair for the others, who were wearing the required soft pointes, if she wasn't penalised somehow.

Warrington (it has several railway stations as far as I know) is on the same line as Chester, so you may be able to use the same train for Cecchetti Associates at KS as for Hammond. I would have thought that there are already students who attend both Cecchetti Associates at KS in Warrington and Hammond Associates? I'm sure both Hammond and KS could confirm their timetables and how they would deal with any potential clashes if you call them. Fingers crossed that you are able to arrange things. Let us know how you get on.

Jazz pants and for that matter tights would be great if available in different lengths. My DD is slender with a short body and very long legs and it is a constant battle to find jazz pants and tights which are long enough whilst not ludicrously large around the waist, hips and bum. (Also - although not a ballet issue! - it's a nightmare to find jeans that fit properly (does anyone know whether Gap still do their Long and Lean range, by the way? They weren't perfect but much closer than any other brand she has tried), so any recommendations would be gratefully received!)

My DD used to do NATD tap and some NATD ballet alongside the RAD ballet she still learns. I think that the NATD tap was more 'showy' than the ISTD tap she subsequently did (and it seemed more difficult grade by grade?) and the NATD ballet was Russian based but reminded me of the RAD exams I did myself many moons ago; they were asked the meaning of the ballet terms from their first exam onwards and I don't think there was any free movement or character work in the grades. Very nice set dances, eg one which I think was a 'Red Riding Hood' dance, with appropriate facial expressions of surprise, horror etc expected! I also remember their practising facial expressions showing various emotions in their lessons, but have no idea whether that formed part of the exam.

Glad that things are improving, Swe and that there is no underlying health concern. My grandmother used to say that teenagers often 'outgrew their strength' during and after a growth spurt! I hope that the dietary changes and your DD remembering to breathe whilst dancing will mean that she doesn't have an overly long 'outgrown strength' phase.

We are in the north west and our fabulous local shop supplies these, plus other models and brands, including posting some to RBS students.

That sounds amazing Sheilabee - wishing you lots of luck (or should I say 'merde' or 'break legs' ?!) in your fabulous new venture!