Bluebird22

Amen to that ^^^^ Our local dance shop fit almost every single dancer with Grishko pro flex and occasionally if you're deemed to have strong feet Bloch TMTs. There's no logic to what they tell people, one girl was told her flat feet needed a Grishko 2007 hard shank, another was given extra toe pads to make the shoe fit. They actually tell people that the pro flex is a beginners shoe arghhhhhh. I take my students 45minutes up the motorway where there is an abundance of brands, styles and fitters who know what they are doing, however lots of parents and other colleagues students opt to use the local dance shop! I could rant for days about pointe shoes, I would never dream of suggesting a one shoe fits all I would imagine all shoes can find a perfect foot. That said the ridiculous shoes pictures DD was told to try will not be making an appearance in my classes anytime soon

What about a villain, they are always more interesting than the goodies! Maleficient Cruella Ursula Queen of hearts Any Bond villain

I second the Bloch suprima, I loved mine! The heritage by Bloch is also a nice delicate shoe

If the bodice needs a little extra stretching I've always found hanging the leotard on a coat hanger then putting a wheat bag over the gusset does the trick nicely!

I teach a lot of boys and I have a younger brother who used to dance. If you don't mind a one off bit of travelling why don't you book him a lesson with a male teacher. Dance box in Milton Keynes is ran by 2 excellent male teachers and Daniel Jones former ENB I think has just started classes in Stoke. Graham Fletcher runs classes from Leicester and I'm sure other people can offer more male teachers.

I'm a dance teacher and from my experience decisions about pointe work should be made on a child to child basis. I've had students who have danced from a very young age go on to pointe aged 10, yet other members of their class simply haven't been ready. Maturity plays a huge part in it, I go along to all first pointe shoe fittings and soft pointe fittings, and you can establish a lot from the responses kids give to pointe shoe fitters. 10 is the absolute youngest I've ever had anyone on pointe and in the 13 years I've been teaching I can only recall 2 students who were mentally and physically able. I always do a year in soft pointes prior to pointe work to strengthen and train the feet (and the mind) before they get full pointe shoes. For some girls the soft pointes are enough and they never progress beyond soft pointes, every little girl starts dancing with the aim of going onto pointe but sometimes the reality, dedication and money required behind pointe work is too great especially when there is no long term dance goal.

Thanks little one, I had students in Buxton and Stoke EYB so I watched both very close together!

Watched this in Buxton a few months back. There was reed pipes, Arabian, Chinese, lollipops, boys did a horn pipe I think. I watched 2 EYB shows really close together so I can't quite remember if the harlequins were swan lake or nutcracker. The Spanish was a group dance in swan lake so I think it was a professional dance in nutcracker. I think the mice tend to be reed pipes two of my students were nice and reed pipes. The little dolls in act 1 were lovely. As were the snow flakes.

I think RBS prioritise the "body" far more than Elmhurst. It's very sad that your DD has been made to feel her Elmhurst achievement isn't worthwhile, any achievement in the dancing world is huge, so many children get nos and not right nows right up until upper school where it's all change again. Maybe a nice way for your DD to look at it, is that she's also auditioning them, if she attends RBS audition and is then offered a place she can consider whether she actually enjoyed their class. I personally think children should keep auditioning for places as long as it's fun and their parents can fund it. One little dancer I occasionally teach was offered reserves at RBS and an associate at Elmhurst, personally I don't think she should reaudition for RBS as she was upset when she didn't get in and physically she's been struggling a lot with her joints and mentally the discipline and constant correcting really gets her down at Elmhurst. Another little dancer was offered associates with both royal and Elmhurst and currently attends both on a weekly basis. She absolutely loves it, she thoroughly enjoys the Jazz at Elmhurst but overall her preference is Royal. That's not to say royal is better that's just her preference. The training at Royal seems very intensive and that's not what every child needs!

Not particularly dancer specific, though for children away from home either at university or US LS it would make a lovely gift. My mum signed up for a beauty box subscription for me as a surprise gift. It arrives once a month from My Little Box and it always has lovely little pamper style gifts plus something relating to whatever theme it is that month, last months was cooking based so it had a cute little apron and came in a sweetie tin. It's great fun and whenever it arrives I get straight on the phone to my mum to have a chat about the contents, I think she looks forward to its arrival as much as I do!

Quite a few soloists and principals with Northern Ballet, Scottish Ballet, BRB seem to have had none royal training. https://northernballet.com/dancers?place=home

Ask the teacher if she has noticed any awkward dynamics in the class, state that your dd has been upset after class a few times, that way you aren't pointing the finger of blame at any one particular child but asking a generalised question. Even if she hasn't seen or heard anything she will at least be aware that there is an issue, and can look out for it, hopefully stopping the nastiness before it escalates further.

You'll have to let us know how she gets on with them! Maybe they will be the perfect shoe ? Albeit one that's a bit odd to look at! Best of luck

A girl I used to dance with was quite a curvy size 8/10 she was accepted into Ballet West, the first holiday she came home and joined in class she was really toned and had lost quite a bit of weight purely through dancing all day every day. She wound up dancing in Austria I think, then she retrained as a school teacher.

Purely from an aesthetics view point, that has to be the most hideous shoe I've ever seen! Is there any research behind them, have any professional dancers tried them and said they offer more support ? Because as dancemad has said ribbons give support to the ankle and I just can't see how that would help any foot never mind a super bendy foot!

What about getting a pair of your dds old ballet shoes decorated and displayed, she could write her own personal thank you on the sole? I've got a pair of decorated pointe shoes in a cage and one of my student has hers in a frame display box which she covered the back of with the sheet music from the nutcracker.

Feedback from one of the JA teachers for one of my students was that she needed to focus on the metatarsal strengthening exercises specifically for jumps and allegro work. She has lovely banana feet, but kept getting knots in her feet. She's been using the spiky massage balls to release the tension in her feet and doing lots of different foot exercises to strengthen her feet. Is the floor he's working on suitably sprung? I bought some foot cushion things it's a gel pad that hooks round the toe and they've really helped. I think strengthening is always a good call with hyper mobility. I'm sure drdance can help slightly more!

Silky work out about £4 a pair fir convertible ones and they seem to be quite durable

I've taken quite a few students to royal mid associate auditions and it seems most of the existing JAs applying where their royal uniform. Maybe wearing an associate uniform is a good call particularly if you are auditioning for their lower school?

Oooo how lovely Drdance, think other examining bodies should follow suit!

I went to a contemporary audition for university (won't name the university, since it was 6years ago) where we had a live violin accompaniment, we spent 2 hours walking, running and skipping. I did think the audition was a terrible waste of an obviously talented musician since the teacher ignored all the gorgeous music being played and didn't create any dance phrases apart from walking running and skipping! At another university audition we had two bongo players and a triangle that pinged every now and then, thankfully we did more than just walking running and skipping. That particular class was based very strongly on Cunningham technique and we did quite a balletic warm up to bongo drums! As a teacher I find children understand the music more clearly when its a piano, maybe it's because it's consistently used whereas full orchestral music is rarely used in the average dance class?

I've got several students applying this time for Royal, elmhurst and Tring junior associate programmes. And for the first time I've got students going along to the JA experience days, because thankfully I've actually noticed it on the Royal website before the dates have passed. My advice to all my students, though I mainly stress it to parents, is don't think of it as an audition, think of it as just another class with some brilliant teachers and more often than not a pianist, which most local dance schools just don't have access to! This not only settles nerves but softens the blow of audition fees! Go in with no expectations and then there is no disappointment whatever the verdict. My first girl to get a JA at royal auditioned at 8 having only ever taken one exam 3 weeks before the audition, myself and her mum had convinced ourselves the chances were virtually zero but the experience was good, and she loved the whole day she had a huge hot chocolate before she went in had pictures outside the royal ballet sign, had some lovely royal ballet merchandise, and thought the class was fabulous. The yes letter several weeks later was just the icing on the cake!

I have Mirella and Bloch leotards and at the 4-6 end of the spectrum Bloch is definitely more roomy. Bloch tends to have a larger waist and a bigger bottom which can look a bit trunk-y on a 5ft3 petite shape! On the subject of leotards the regulation BBO uniform required for my students is the worst, I have no idea what style body they have based it on but it is the squarest leotard cut I've ever seen. On some girls the only place they touch the body is the shoulders and bottom with no contact at all around the waist. We've tried going down on size but then they end up too short in the body. All my students wear the little belts to improve the fit though that makes the fabric pucker together and some have to boil wash and tumble dry, stretch repeatedly to achieve a nicer fit. Though I had one very dedicated nanny who hand tailored the leotard to taper it around the waist and give it a snug fit.

Is the teacher retiring or just closing the school? Perhaps you could ask her to continue some one on one tuition where you cover her wage plus the hire of a venue, whilst also attending classes elsewhere? At least your DD maintains some continuity auditions are stressful enough as it is, without the added drama of trying to fit in and adapt to a different teacher and school!

I was in Stockholm last week and they are edging ever closer to the point in the year where daylight is between 10am-2pm. Last Thursday was quite cloudy and by 2pm it was so so dark I thought it was at least 4.30. Easy to see how people suffer terribly from SAD over there. I work very long weekends, more often than not I work through my lunch and forget to eat, at this time of the year especially I get home 7/8pm after working from 9, and I'm actually too tired to eat. Maybe the intensity of the programme is wearing her out so much that she's just too exhausted to eat and it's become a vicious circle. Might be worth looking at vitamin supplements and sorting some slow release carb snacks that she can graze on through the day? I really don't envy the jobs you parents have, it seems like the worrying never ends!