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atacrossroads

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  1. atacrossroads
    Yes here too for Summer Course B
  2. atacrossroads
    They're saying end of this week, possibly beginning of next.... Having said that I think some emails might have gone out yesterday for group A both weeks?
  3. atacrossroads
    Will Alina stay on at ENB?
  4. atacrossroads
    As skippy sheep says, the academic education there is wonderful and their results speak for themselves. The dance training is also wonderful, especially in years 7 & 8 when there are often only 8-10 boys and girls in the class. The classes get a little larger in year 9 which makes it more crucial for the pupils to apply general correction as well as personal correction in ballet, but the vocational teachers are extremely good as well as kind and inspiring. Tring may not turn out as many classical dancers as other top ballet schools, but this is mainly because some children who go there might want to be stong commercial or contemporary dancers, rather than ballet dancers. The strong classical training is there, which is evident in the successes of recent pupils going on to Upper School and ENB School. My Dd is extremely happy there and is now coming to the end of her third year. As with any school there will always be frustrations, but on the whole the children are happy, the atmosphere is vibrant (thanks to having the wonderful Theatre Arts children walking around singing in harmony!) and I have found the experience to be well worth the one hour each way journey that we make to get there each day
  5. atacrossroads
    I called in today and they said that emails will be sent by the end of next week.
  6. atacrossroads
    Pointyfeet, I wonder if Elmhurst Assoc. might be willing to be more specific for you. Their opinion is obviously going to be a large consideration in how your Dd sees her dance future and it may well be that she just isn't right for their programme? Up until last year ENB had a very busty Spanish dancer in the company, but she was trained in Madrid I believe.
  7. atacrossroads
    Thank you for posting that clip again aballetlife, it is very inspiring Harwel, would the student you're referring to still be able to dance in a smaller classical company such as Vienna Festival Ballet where I've witnessed some more unusual bodies? Could it be possible that there might still be smaller touring ballet companies that would take these talented dancers, rather than the more obvious top companies?
  8. atacrossroads
    I'm equally bemused by the stats amos73 and have been for a long time. 2 from the ones who started off at WL year 7 and probably earlier in JAs making it to US. That makes me question their selection process from the word go. 2 from the many JAs in the many locations nationwide who have been chosen for their promising physiques. If their selection process is so right, how is their success rate so poor, or is an approximate success rate of 1% from JA to US successful? Are the rest of the US made up of international students? (Apart from the Tring boy we know about). I have to wonder about all of those DCs who have had their dreams broken so early, especially those poor children assessed out in year 9. They have been taken away from their school, their friends and their second home. Somehow at entry for year 7 or Upper School when the odds are against them it doesn't seem quite so harsh. Getting a place elsewhere for year 10 is so hard as the other schools would have to possibly assess out one of their own to make space for one of these children
  9. atacrossroads
    I found that really interesting also Janet. Why did RBC not take her out of school I wonder, only wanting her when she'd become so experienced elsewhere? Even more surprising to me was why they didn't take Vadim Muntagirov out of Upper School. He has everything. He then rises extremely quickly at ENB and then they want him back and as a Lead Principal. I wonder how many of the RBC Principals have come to them straight out of Upper School and risen through the ranks? And of those, how many are British?
  10. atacrossroads
    I watched another one yesterday Petalviolet that was set in Poland and again they had to stand, dance and be generally manipulated in front of a large panel of male and female staff in just knickers. I really felt for them as it seemed so humiliating and unnecessary. My Dd and her friend had their spines examined during Elmhurst Finals by the physio, but in their leotards. That was 3 years ago. I would expect to be warned by a school if they were going to ask my Dd to take her leotard down for a stranger, as it goes against everything we and our schools tell our children is appropriate, acceptable behaviour. I'd be interested to know if that is still happening now, or if that's happened to anyone else's Dc at finals?
  11. atacrossroads
    I loved your 'leg to lamb' quote Petalviolet, it really made me laugh! I just measured my Dd out of curiosity. She was in her room chatting with two friends (non dancers) and I got them all to quickly do it, saying that it was a quick height prediction quiz I was doing! Dd was 46% and her other two friends were 45.5% and 43.7%, so I would imagine that 52% is somewhat of a rarity in most normal, non dance, every day life kind of circles. When you watch some of the Vaganova exam videos it's the first thing that strikes you, just how extremely leggy those girls are
  12. atacrossroads
    So you measure from the floor (where they're sat) to the top of the head, then heir height, minus the first measurement from the second to get the leg measurement. Then I'm totally befuddled as to the next stage! Luckily for Dd she is out shopping!
  13. atacrossroads
    That's so funny How do we measure the ratio?
  14. atacrossroads
    I totally agree!
  15. atacrossroads
    Hi Tulip, I just found your post a little inaccurate as it isn't ALL about the body, it's about so much more. It's about having the body and making the most of it, but it's also about not having the perfect physique and battling to overcome it as so many have, be it in ballet or sport.
  16. atacrossroads
    I'd also like to clarify the above quote for those parents out there whose children are accepted into a school deemed one of those referenced above (presumably any other school other than the top two of three classical schools). Firstly these schools do have an uphill climb to remain viable with only around 6-8 MDS government funded places to be given out to applicants per year. Secondly they are far from filled with children who will never work professionally as dancers. The children chosen are very talented and in fact, although only a few will continue on the classical route and into companies, in my daughters class each and every child is talented enough to work professionally as a dancer with the right amount of hard work. Thanks to the breadth of the curriculum, not only do they have 2.5 hours of classical ballet training a day ( from teachers who are ex ballet company members and give fantastic critique), they also have extensive training in modern, contemporary, tap, street jazz, drama and singing, making them perhaps the most employable dancers around! And in the mix you've got the students who gain places at RBS Upper School each year, proving that these schools are totally viable classically too.
  17. atacrossroads
    Hi Kate_N, Our thread was brought over from another thread to this one as we had gone off topic on our original one, so some of my observations were based on what had been said on our previous thread which was far more about physique at JA stage. My whole point was about whether a child is 'gifted' or not, over ideal body shape. Thank goodness you only have the criteria of how academically gifted your applicants are and their personal statements by which to choose. There seems to be so many facets when choosing which dancer to take. Obviously by 6th Form (and I'm saying 6th Form because Upper School refers generally to RBS) level in ballet I would imagine that the selection process becomes easier as the attainment is obvious as well as the physicality, which is perhaps why there are more shapes and sizes in the mix.
  18. atacrossroads
    I think it's very easy for parents of DCs who are born with 'just the right physique' and 'so easy to work with' bodies to dismiss other body types as not worthy of the art and not worthy of top class training, but: * Would they hold the same opinion if their Dc was talented and incredibly dedicated, but had a slightly more challenging physique, or a long torso, or a short neck? Would they say to their child "I'm sorry, but you don't have long limbs, or the type of physique that we find pleasing to watch so we're not supporting you in this dream anymore"? * Even the best bodies can change with puberty and become thick around the middle, or heavy in the thighs, or develope large busts, equally some children with normally proportioned or shorter legs can then grow much longer in the leg during puberty. * You can have the best physique in the world, but if you don't have the dedication, work ethic, quick mind, mental toughness and stage presence to go with it, you're only half way there. My point during this whole discussion has been, let's not discount any talented, dedicated child before 6th Form age, because things change and children develope at different rates and in different ways. Let's not be despondent when a child isn't accepted into the training programme of one school who has so much choice, they can generally take the children with the 'easy to work with' physiques. We're supposed to be supportive of each other on this forum, but telling parents that there's a perfect physique for a ballerina and inferring that if a child doesn't possess it then it's time to get real is not supportive. This isn't the RoyalBalletcoforum, there are many parents on this forum whose children aren't and never will be associates, or at WL, or US, but those parents should still feel that they have an equal voice here. Their children may well train elsewhere and go on into ballet companies, it has happened and it will happen. Yes, every art or sport has a 'perfect' body shape, but every one of those arts or sports is also made up of success stories from those who chose to fight against being told that they were too small to be a rugby player, or too tall to be a racing driver, or too short to be an NFL player, or too short limbed to be a ballerina. As I've said before, most of our children will not make the cut for many reasons, but whilst chasing the dream, dance brings so much joy and the journey can be just as worthwhile as the end result!
  19. atacrossroads
    Luckily other schemes are. It seems that the purpose of particular JAs isn't so much to 'nurture young talented students' (as they state on their website) but to seek out potential candidates with the right body types, that with training and time might be right one day? Again, I'm not saying that these children aren't talented!
  20. atacrossroads
    I agree regarding false hopes primrose, but a child with a long body and short legs, but with every other attribute should still be given a chance in the view of many other schools. There is a dancer in ENB (I see them perform a lot, so I have a knowledge of this company particularly), who was trained at English National Ballet School and has a long torso and short legs. She is a soloist, so clearly despite her look not being to your preference, she is desirable in the eyes of Tamara Rojo, their artistic senior management and the audiences who watch ENB perform. There is another who has joined the company in the last year who I've noticed does not have the long neck you prefer, quite the opposite, but still there she is in one of our countries top ballet companies. They have some very short, muscular dancers as well as tall and a few very tall dancers. Most ballet companies, including RBC now have some form of contemporary in their repertoire, so classical dancers these days are having to become more athletic than they've ever been in the past. As for getting work after training, I know a stunning dancer who went all the way through WL and Upper School and didn't get a regular contract with a ballet company for nearly five years afterwards, so no vocational school, even RBS can guarantee their pupils will get work. I guess everyone is different and while some prefer the uniformity of watching (the very talented) RBC, others like me prefer the individuality of other companies.
  21. atacrossroads
    No Legseleven, this is not the case. As far as I know, other associate schemes do not assess out based on physique, certainly not London Junior and Senior Ballet, or Tring Park Classical Ballet Academy where my Dd went. It's a totally different approach. If a child has talent, a great work ethic and determination, what right minded associate scheme would having chosen them in the first place, take away that child's dream? Many deficiencies can be improved on with hard work, both by the child and the training facility if they are prepared to nurture that child. If you look at a company like English National Ballet for example, you can see that classical ballet can embrace many body types. I love watching companies like this, I have no desire to watch a company full of dancers who look identical to each other. Most professional dancers will concede that there were aspects of their body shape that were not right for ballet, but they have worked hard to compensate for them, disguise them and become brilliant in other aspects of their repertoire. Tamara Rojo has said many times that she was told endlessly that she wouldn't make it because of her body, Misty Copeland is another great example. Leanne Benjamin, who we've mentioned earlier on in this thread, trained in Australia and then went to Upper School after being spotted at Prix de Lausanne. But she wasn't taken into the Royal Ballet Company, she danced in many other companies for nearly ten years before the RBC took her and she then became a principal with them for the rest of her career. Yes, if you look at the RBC they are all of a very certain type, as are Russian companies, but look further to the American companies and other great UK companies such as ENB or Birmingham Royal Ballet and you will see dancers of different shapes, leg lengths, neck length, head shape etc. etc.
  22. atacrossroads
    But surely they have long legs? I know of some too of course, but they've got very RBS proportioned bodies, with long legs. I'm not trying to put anyone off RBS associates. My daughter's friends have loved the experience and adored their teachers. I'm trying to make the point that if your Dc is rejected many times by them not to feel that they don't have what it takes to continue. There are other options, such as London Junior and Senior Ballet, who offer a JA programme and take children based on talent alone, Tring Park CBA is wonderful and again the criteria is ability, not body shape. YDA Associates is great too. I'm sure there are quite a few over the country, with fantastic teaching, but we are all indoctrinated into believing that it's all about RBS. Many newer parents especially may not realise that these other wonderful places exist, in fact 6 years ago before I learned so much from the contributors in thus forum, neither did I. I'm also not saying that RBS associates have just been chosen because if their bodies, they would obviously need to be talented and have a sense of musicality as well. Purely that there IS a body type criteria for RBS and if your child doesn't fit that, try one of the other wonderful schemes out there!
  23. atacrossroads
    drdance, thank you for paraphrasing, I'd imagine the research study takes quite some reading! It all sounds extremely interesting. So perhaps at associate stage they are looking for slight hyperextension preferably, but equally trying to identify hyper-mobility type BJHS as a negative as it could lead to a dancer's body not being able to cope with the rigours of a professional career. With the number of children auditioning and already in the associate scheme, they have no need to accept a child without hyperextension, or the long slim limbs they also have a preference for, so there will always be children who are extremely talented dancers, who will just never be selected. My Dd is an example of this. Top of her year at vocational school in ballet assessments, 98% in Intermediate Foundation RAD exam, chosen two years running by a top national ballet company to play Clara in their London production of Nutcracker, but never even making short waiting list for RBS Associates. In my Dds case, I'm really glad it turned out that ways as RBS would never have been right for her, just as she is not right for them. The route she has taken has meant that there will be no 'assessing out' at any stage. She is allowed to enjoy her training without that looming over her and keep her friends right the way through to sixth form, which is a blessing for any ballet parent too. So few of our DCs will ever make it into top companies, some will get injured, some will realise that they'd rather study medicine at Oxford (!), but my belief is that the journey of trying to achieve the dream should be thoroughly enjoyable, whether training vocationally or at regular school with ballet in the evenings. It's the only stage of your career that you'll get to dance every day, amongst friends, with the freedom to dance just because you love it and nothing more
  24. atacrossroads
    I wouldn't be interested in looking at the 'what does RBS look for?' thread as my Dd has no intention of ever auditioning for them again! To be honest, I watched two ballets in one day In January. The matinee was RBC and the evening was ENB. ENB had such a variety of artists in height, body shape and personality, it was an absolute delight to watch. Every one different, every personality allowed to shine through. If I were an aspiring young dancer, that's the kind of company I'd want to be a part of!
  25. atacrossroads
    Does that mean it was stopped, or you have to request to join the discussion?!
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