veryskint

Tickets now gone

Premiere performance at Curve Theatre, Leicester 2 tickets - Circle, row E. £31 per ticket

Sean Marcs who was the Officer in the 2015 tour was 'recruited' today to take over from Oliver.

It does take a few months; approx until about Oct but definitely before graduation ceremony in November. The certificate comes from the validating university. If it is the actual degree ie not the foundation degree, students are invited to the graduation ceremony at Canterbury Cathedral in the case of the University of Kent. By that point most of the dance students don't attend as they are working or in further training. It looks like it is a nice day though! The schools have a 'graduation ceremony' at the end of the course in July where students are presented with a certificate of completion which can be used to prove they have attained a degree. At this point students do not know what class of degree they have.

My DC auditioned over 2 years ago so things may have changed since. The auditionees participated in a morning class made up of the current graduate year. They were told a week or so later if they had been successful. In that particular cohort the graduates had graduated from Central, Elmhurst or from an overseas school. At that time the purpose of the programme was to supplement training where it was required ie the graduate was not ready to audition for companies due to injury or any other reason. I did not get the impression then that competition to gain a place was too bad but perhaps now due to the difficulty of gaining employment the competition might be tougher.

The professional graduate programme has now ran for three years; my DC was in the second run of the programme. There were two males within the cohort of 11. If I remember correctly there were two males the year before ie the first year of the programme. It is disappointing that after the first year only one of the graduates from each of the following years has been taken on as an apprentice at the end of the course. However, as Tulip says that is the way it is when it comes to securing employment; it's very tough! Like Janet I have noted that this year their new dancers are mainly experienced and from other companies. I wonder why but it's most likely that they simply performed best at the audition in February. Tulip; congratulations to your daughter in securing a contact

The apprentice positions are paid positions.

I don't think so. We looked into this a couple of years ago when my DS was doing the Northern Professional Program. Technically they are not an educational establishment so no opportunity to source student funding. However, because participant not available to work then no benefit for being 'unemployed'. We were advised to look at Career Development Loan which we didn't do so cannot advise on that.

It is on reflection now my DS is nearly 21. I don't think he has any regret about the time he had living away at school but I feel we all missed out a little from a family perspective. He may not have got the opportunities that followed if he had not gone to his first school. However, there were a number of students in his year at Central that had not gone to a vocational school before 16 and have gone into be very successful. I think anyone making the decision should weigh up lost family time against benefit of good training.

I agree with Tulip; I would not have let my son live away from home from 11 years old. I think I would also have pushed earlier for more information re facility and body types so we could have made more informed decisions. Other than that we and my DS have been very fortunate with the people we have met and the teachers DS has benefitted from. He is now an adult and happy with his dance life.

My DS who is now coming towards the end of his 2nd year since graduating from a ballet school and often refers to 'facility'. He does not have natural facility and that is something he has had to work with throughout his dancing life. This means he would never dance for a company such as ENB etc. However, he has worked steadily since graduation and has work until May 2017 so although not having natural facility is a disadvantage in classical ballet it is not the end of a dance career if the person has other attributes.

There is no funding for the Northern Professional Graduate programme. Technically participants are no longer students so do not benefit from advantages such as student discount or exemption from council tax. I think it is more common to do an additional year because it is difficult to secure a job. Central graduates are attracted to the Northern programme because the last few months of their third year are spent on the Ballet Central tour which provides great performance experience but some students may feel they still need to improve their technique.

In addition to the three above referred to by Janet, who were all in the first professional graduate program cohort, Harriet Marden joined the company last year as an apprentice from the second cohort.

I am not sure if there is a requirement to hold annual auditions but Northern have definitely had an audition in February over at least the last three years.

I'm coming at it from a Northern perspective except sadly the one we paid the most money for; 1. Last performance by Dane Hurst at the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh - Transfigured Night. Also, Rooster from Rambert at the beginning of the year was also fantastic! 2. Richard Alston Dance Company particularly Nancy Nerantzi and Liam Riddick in Burning. 3. Rosie Kay Dance Company 5 Soldiers: The Body is the Frontline at Dance City in Newcastle. 4. Scottish Ballet, A Sreetcar Named Desire at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow. 5. Kairos, choreographed by Wayne McGregor and performed by Ballet Zurich at EIF. My husband and I both celebrated a significant birthday this year and treated ourselves to a London break in October and our first visit to the ROH. It was an enjoyable evening but Raven Girl and Connectome were both at the bottom of the dance performances we saw this year not least because Connectome seemed under rehearsed. However, we really enjoyed Afternoon of a Faun when we went to the Cinema to see the Royal Ballet Triple Bill (I won't mention Carmen).