Shimmer

Hi I trained as a ballet teacher at the RAD and prior to that I only took 2 classes a week. It was a 3-year degree program so at the end you get teaching qualifications as well as an academic one. For this you needed to have passed your RAD Intermediate or equivalent and get through an audition. The RAD also offer distance learning qualifications but teaching really is not something you can learn and develop from paper. I don't know a lot about ISTD qualifications but I think you also need Intermediate and although it is less intense than the RAD it still includes a lot of face-to-face contact with tutors and teaching experience. So basically I would say you are fine with 4 classes a week and when it comes to decided on qualifications definitely go for the longer courses, skimping on training will lose you the opportunity to really develop your skills.

I have a pair of Freed Classic Pro 4 XXX key maker pointe shoes for sale. £30 and free postage. The maker is ill and when i ordered shoes in March he was expected to be off for several months. I bought more pairs than i needed because i was worried i would break all of them before my exam and not be able to get hold of any more. I am no longer dancing so these are untouched still in their bag.

Hi Aileen The new grades 4 and 5 will be released in January. I can't remember off the top of my head when the old syllabi will stop being examined but I think the information is published in 'Focus on Exams'. Shimmer

It really depends on the school. I did Grade six then Intermediate before going into full time training. I then did Grade 7 and Advanced 1 last year, and Grade 8 and Advanced 2 this year at the ripe old age of 22! I really enjoyed doing the higher grades as a more mature student although I sometimes felt a bit self-concsious in a class full of skinny 13 year olds!

I have found that the book can be confusing but the specification is very clear, alas not all teachers check the specification. On a similar note, in my Advanced 2 exam last week one of the other candidates had been told by her teacher that she only needed to choose one out of the three dances and didn't realise the polka is compulsory then you choose one of the other two as well.

Dear clever people On the way to my Advanced Two exam my bottle of pointe shoe glue leaked on my brand new leotard. Luckily I took a spare but I would like to wear the new one for class so does anyone know if/how I can get the glue out? It's only a small patch on the neckline but it has set rock solid! I don't know how I managed before I found this forum! Shimmer

I've checked on the Royal Mail website and because of the weight of the magazines postage would be about £20. Shimmer x

Hi There are 27 magazines in total, the oldest 8 are dance expression then they change their name to dance dynamic and I have 19 of those. I don't know how much the postage would be but they are quite heavy when stacked together. I'll see what information is on the Royal Mail website and see if I can find out. Shimmer

I am having a clearout and I have a number of Dance Expression magazines that are free to a good home, otherwise they will go in the recycling bin. I have January 2009 through to May 2011, all only read once then piled up in the bottom of my cupboard to stop it falling over. I am in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk for collecting or I can post if postage costs are covered. Shimmer x

Thank you for all the replies. I have managed to track down some bits from primark and some cheapish white skirts from amazon (didn't realise they did clothes!). I have suggested character skirts to the choreographer as we all have them and could turn them inside out, but she is adamant they are too short. I've contacted a couple of places about hiring things but it depends if they have adult-sized costumes or just child-sized. I don't think I am ever going to manage a whole show for my own school, this costuming lark is far too stressful! x

Hello everyone I have ended up being in charge of the costumes for my graduation show. The choreographers all have very specific ideas about what they want which is fine but I only have a small budget and all of these great costume ideas would take at least half of the budget each. So after lots of crying and tearing my hair out I wondered if anyone on here would be able to help. I am looking for 17 ankle length black or red full skirts for a spanish number, 22 knee length white skirts (not see-through), 11 peasent/gypsy style blouses and 7 mid-calf length skirts (see-through or not, doesn't matter) in autumn colours. If anyone know of somewhere I could get these REALLY cheaply or of anywhere I could borrow them from that would be fantastic! Shimmer x

I am currently writing my dissertation on this topic! In short - traditionally people go for age 12 as a general guide but recent research urges teachers to base it on the strength, control, co-ordination and stability of each individual child. The article that spannerandpony linked to is very good but at the end of the day remember that no harm can come from aiming for later rather than sooner.

It sounds like an ongoing problem I have. I have tendonitis in the inside of my shin which then goes into the inside of my ankle joint on both legs, althoough one is worse than the other. It was initially caused by years of rolling in on my ankles and when I incresed my dance training from 2 hours a week to 11 it got very bad because my calves tightened up. I keep on top of it by warming up thoroughly and stretching my calves constantly (45 seconds stretch each leg, 6-7 times a day) and icing the sore area for 10 mins at least once a day. I also have orthotics in my street shoes to correct the roll in my ankles ans use massage balls to release some of the tightness in my calves. Obviously, it might be something different to me but I definitely recommend seeing a dance physio or sports therapist about it (mine is a marathon runner and knows exectly how I feel!) because it is likely to only get worse. Ask them to explain exactly what is happening because I found it really useful to understand precisely what my tendons were doing and why. I've been able to talk to my dance teachers about it and together we have found ways of managing my classes. I hope you manage to get it sorted, there is nothing more frustrating than hurting every time you jump!

A lot of my friends sleep in them for a few nights, the sweat softens them and they mould to the shape of your feet. I microwaved mine until the box felt warm then wrapped them in a towel and bashed them with a rolling pin. Softening the glue first helps them break down more evenly rather than cracking into lots of pieces. As long as the satin stays clean and undamaged you can't be too violent!

Just bruised and sore, nothing major. I'm more annoyed about missing the dress rehearsal!

New one today: I was on my way to the Royal Opera House this morning to watch a dress rehearsal of Onegin when I slipped and fell very dramatically. Frustratingly I was only a hundred metres or so from the Opera House door and I laid in the snow looking mournfully at said door until the ambulance arrived. Needless to say, I missed the rehearsal. So close yet so far!

Lots of ENB students use Queen Alexandra House in Kensington, or there is Catholic hostel called More House in the same area.

Leprechaun? My sister did this a couple of years ago - hunting for gold coins and catching a glimpse of gold only for it to be a leaf, button etc. Then finally she found the big pot of gold! Great for facial expressions.

I always thought that bowed legs meant they bowed out sideways? Mine have always been described as bowed because if I stand in parallel with my feet together there is a large gap between my knees because of the curve of my two long leg bones. In 1st position my knees and feet both touch and look straight from the front but side-on you can see they curve backwards. The same sort of legs that malnourished children get but in my case is down to genetics. They can also curve the other way, so in parallel if the knees are touching there is a gap between the feet but in a 1st position it's not noticable. My boyfriend has legs like this so with a bit of luck our children will have a combination and end up with straight legs!

Mt teacher gets us to think of relaxing and letting our body weight pull us down. The harder you try the tenser your muscles get which just makes it harder! She could try focusing on relaxing her ankles and sinking slowly doen into the plie. Her muscles and tendons might have tightened up, especially if she is growing quite fast. Make sure she stretches her calves and achilles every day, mine get stretched at least four times a day otherwise my legs would barely bend! You could always take her to see a physio or podiatrist to check nothing is unusually tight.

For sale - Brand new Ouch Puch Juniors (they make pointework almost comfortable!) I bought these after seven years of using my old ones but I put them on today and not only are they too big for my tiny toes but because they are a bit thicker than my old ones they made my pointe shoes too small. Apart from being put on then immediately taken off they are brand new and in all their original packagaing. £15 with free P&P to UK addresses.

Mt bedroom at home is in a small converted outbuilding with its own door secured by a yale lock, this means you have to have the key to open it from the outside. One evening the cat refused to come inside at bedtime and we don't have a catflap so once we shut the door she is stuck outside all night. I went to bed, took the keys out of my door so my sisters couldn't jump on me early the next morning, and put them on my bedside table. Just as I was on the brink of sleep I heard the cat wailing outside the door to the house. Muttering darkly to myself I got up, slammed my door behind me, trudged through the garden in the pouring rain and let the cat into the unlocked house. On returning to my bedroom door I realised that my keys were sitting happily where I left them - inside my locked room. The cat was in my bad books for a long time!

On explaining my injury (an inflamed periosteum) to a friend: "Oh that's disgusting, don't tell me any more, I don't want to hear it, I feel sick just thinking about it!" Good job it's not your leg then! The response of the physiotherapist was even better: There is nothing I can do, you will just have to stop dancing. And if you try and start again the pain will just come back. This is coming from someone that advertises as an experienced dance physio with a thorough understanding of the needs of dancers. I stomped off home to a local sports therapist who has managed to keep me dancing more or less pain free for two years now.

Thanks everyone, I will put the panicking on hold! I have always been proud of my perfect-for-ballet three toes of the exact same length but in the last few months both my second toes have somehow grown longer. I will try padding my big toes wih some lambs wool and see if it helps.

To all the knowledgeable people out there I've never had any pointe-related foot problems but thanks to a significant increase in pointework (and a second toe that has mysteriously grown longer than my big toe despite them being the same length for the last two decades) I have got a bruised nail. It's just a little bruise at the base of the nail on my second toe and has got slighly bigger since I first noticed it a couple of days ago. It wasn't worrying me until I read that you are supposed push a red-hot paperclip through the nail to release the blood otherwise the nail will fall off. Do I need to panic and whip out my paperclips?