Bluebird22

I’ve just paid £300 out in CPD on top of my membership fees, to complete the required 18hours so I can continue to offer exams for my students. I’m self employed on £9.50 p/h it’s a huge expense, BUT I choose to do this job and I owe it to the kids I teach to do it to the best of my ability. However I can see why parting with so much money would be off putting, particularly for a guest type teacher (dancers aren’t known for their large salaries!) There is a wealth of information online so there is no excuse for shoddy and poorly planned classes.

None of my Birmingham have heard!

Thankfully she was lucky, in that while not being favoured, she was never subjected to the treatment mentioned in other threads. I don’t think it’s possible to keep your head in that sort of toxic environment

Not even convinced it’s just the full time schools, I know an associate teacher who I think needs hauling over the coals for her complete disregard for the mental well being of the highly impressionable teens she teaches/belittles and demeans. It may be a tough business but sending someone out to face the world when you have shattered their confidence and self belief is not the way to go.

Just thought I would share a little update on this!! The 14 year old I spoke about in my original post is now 19 and about to graduate dance college. She leaves her college with a job working aboard P&O cruises as a dancer. Her mum came back to see me today, and her dance college principal said she has secured the job because she is an exceptionally technical and clean ballet and jazz dancer. Although she hasn’t gone down the ballet route the strong foundation of her earlier training has clearly stood her in good stead. There are some worrying threads in Doing Dance about how some dance colleges operate. My ex student was not a favourite at her dance college but she always received exceptionally high assessments, she graduates as one of the few to have already secured a contract. Just because you are favoured in one school does not guarantee a job beyond graduation.

I’m sure when students have done it before they find out at the casting what parts they have

I agree not convinced it’s alphabetical, I reckon Royal Email Fairy has had a gin and is just sending randomly!

Tops, hoping more centres per day- I’m waiting to hear from 3 of my students who auditioned at Birmingham. Anyone know how many applied this year? One of mine said it was a lot quieter this year than the year previous

Huge congrats! What year will she be joining? How nice that she gets to experience it all with her friend!

Newcastle Totnes Manchester Leeds Birmingham Bath Eastleigh London Order of auditions

Eeeek I love it when it’s early! Thank you Royal Ballet email sender fairy! Will be running on nervous energy until I hear about my Birmingham lovelies

Never say never Kat! She seems an incredibly brave young lady, and like so many people have said ballet has that way of pulling you back in when you least expect it. Once you love it, I believe you will always love it, whatever bumps, crashes and hiccups you meet along the way. Watch her in the kitchen or as she goes about day to day chores, ballet never ever leaves you, it might not be a full scale production, there might not be a tutu or a tiara, but she will still dance- we all do, it is so embodied in us! My brother quit a number of years back, he just grew out of it, but he still whacks out a few pirouettes while he waits for the kettle to boil or when he’s being a big kid on the trampoline there’s always ballet jumps and beats. Wishing you both well!

I know a lady who has started making skirts, made to measure in the same style as the RAD ones

1 of my Little year 3s went today absolutely loved it, and said the panel kept smiling at her (I’ve had lots say that to me in the past and I don’t think it’s any indicator of success!) It’s nice that some of the panel show a human element and try to settle the kids nerves

I would be interested in someone else’s opinion, as it may just be my pupils experience as I believe they have two teams of associates that run on alternate weekends red group and blue group I believe?

She loved Shannon and Peter, think she just wished she had them more often, as on paper the scheme was amazing. Two weekends a month for a good number of hours each time. Possibly good as an all round dance associate like Hammond?

I had a pupil accepted, after attending 2 summer schools with Shannon and Peter and loving their classes. However they found the associate scheme rarely had them as teachers and quite often the 2 age groups were merged together for a guest class in a genre other than ballet. They ended up quitting as it just wasn’t what they signed up for

Eric Franklin has a really good book called Dynamic Alignment through Imagery, although that’s possibly not the sort of thing you are after!

To my very tiny ones I explain it as (helps if you sing it!) Head, shoulders, ribs and hips, knees and toes Head, shoulders, ribs and hips, knees and toes They all stack on top of each other Head, shoulders, ribs and hips, knees and toes It is more complicated than that but that is the most basic way of explaining it I think!

Have you tried KT tape? I must admit I was quite surprised to read that you are dancing on unsprung floors, the owners of your college certainly know better, although after a bit of digging I’ve been led to believe the whole building is a bit of a building site 😕

Quite certain it was IDTA, I know I couldn’t use my IDTA quals to enter at a higher level on the course I’m currently doing.

The RAD have said I can use my current qualifications with another exam board to become an RAD teacher. I have a BBO Level 5 teaching qualification and I’m mid way through my Level 6 teaching qualification. I believe a colleague who has quals with a different exam board was turned down by the RAD because the qualification didn’t match the standard of the RAD qualification and therefore was not transferable.

Especially when the exam fees are hardly cheap!

Balletbean, that is one of the most frustrating things to happen! We had exam centre where we received the results but the report sheets vanished so while the girls knew their overall mark they had no idea of the examiners feedback or where they lost or gained marks

I second festival dance fever, very nice lady, I’m sure if you call her she will be able to help. Also Amaris Dancewear very good made to order. Dylon dyes are good too as most boys stuff is limited to black, white, navy and sometimes grey. I have 13 boys to costume and the market for boys costumes is so limited, I end up relying on dressmakers when I need a costume to coordinate with the girls. Or I pick a theme that is easy for me to costume from everyday items! Good luck and keep us updated with where you end up using as I could definitely do with another supplier of boys dancewear!